Lauren Morley In Ayia Napa August 2000 - London, England - Official Report

Myself and my friend had been preparing for Ayia Napa for a year, nothing did prepare me for it, Cyprus on a whole was an uplifting exsperience for us both. I hope everyone who visit's Ayia Napa feels the same way we did.

We arrived on a Friday night about 11pm, time for a quick change in our hotel called The Nestor, and straight out to find this square that we had seen so much of on the television.

We got lost at first and found the Luna Park instead, we were thinking this cant be it, this looks like Spain A wave of disapointment took over on our faces, we soon asked someone where the square was. On our way to the square I bumped into an old college friend who was PR'ing out there, he become our guide to Ayia Napa, our first stop for the night was a quick look at the square, I literally stood there in shock, I could not believe the amount of people there was there, all I could think of what if there is a fight.

We soon made our way to our 1st club The Rise, this I understand is one of Ayia Napa's newer clubs, its a nice venue with a glass theme to it and an open roof bar, we proceeded to drink as much Sambuca as possible, " big mistake".

I can't remember which club promotion was there that night, all I remember was Mc's D.T and Charlie Brown (London-England). D.T remembers that night as he keeps on reminding me I was sick upstairs in that lovely open roof bar, so embarrasing, teach me to get drunk on the plane and continue drinking as soon as I touch down in Cyprus.

We left there and made our way to River Reggae. As we walked down the steps and got our 1st glance of this bar, it was amazing, there were stars in the sky, you could see this swimming pool is the shape of a river going round the 2 bars, flames burning, sweet sounds of Bob Marley, a really chilled atmosphere, I thought I had found Heaven.

I was still extremely intoxicated at this moment so it made River Reggae seem even better!. We were all chilling by the pool with my new found friend a drink called Sex On The Beach. Myself and my friend and a Ayia Napa Guide had such a wicked time that morning we chatted to everyone until 7am. We made it in time for breakfeast at the hotel, what a state we looked. One thing with the hotel's is that they are very strict about you having guest's with you, but put a bit of money there way and that all goes out the window.

Unfortunately our 1st day in Ayia Napa was not a good one due to the drinking of the night before, I proceeded to be sick in my hotel room all day long. Managed to go out and hire a jeep, after seeing and reading about all the moped accidents I knew if I had one I would be in casualty too, I've never riden one and dont intend to either. The jeeps on average cost about 27 cy pounds a day, bloody rip off I thought.

Too ill to go clubbing that night so what did we do, ended up doing a bungee rocket instead at the Luna Fun Park, Ayia Napa this cost about 15 pounds for a package deal. I had done one of these before in Ibiza so it didnt really faze me that much.

We were ready for the beach on our 2nd day, I had heard so much about Nissi beach, but it didn't grab me to the point that I wanted to go, I was just not in the mood for bumping into half of London.

We had heard there was a nice beach in Protaras called Fig Tree Bay, its only a 20 min drive from Ayia Napa. I've spoken to so many English people and they really regret not trying another beach, infact some people thoughout there holiday did a set pattern of Nissi beach by day Marinella's by night and the Spot club, they were the one' s who would complain that they didnt really enjoy there holiday.

Anyway back to Fig Tree Bay, its more of a family beach with a nice selection of water sports and boat trips. This one's for the ladies the beach staff down there were like something out of male model photo shoot, absoultely gorgeous.

We did the paragliding of the back of a boat, I must admit I did get a bit bored doing that not much to look at stuck up in the sky. Our guide took us to the Bedrock Inn on the way back, this is biggest Karoke bar in Ayia Napa and the best, the name says it all, its got a massive inflatable Fred Flintstone on the top of the venue and a Fred car with Dino outside.

There cocktail drinks are centered around the bedrock theme as well, Wilma's Pussy was Michaela's favorite, I'm afraid its sex on the beach all the way for me, Al stuck to his lethal Vodka & Redbull.

The barman really know how to have a good time in there, we nick-named them Dre and Bam Bam, be sure to say hello to them if you go into the bedrock. They sure make a great cocktail with an added smile too. This bar really had a great atmosphere. I really miss that place.

Again we got so cherry on the liquor (Drunk!!) that we couldn't manage a club, we didnt leave the bedrock until 3am. Al our guide was sharing an apartment with a barman from Napa so we ended up crashing out on the poor bloke sofa, cheers mate.

Another great bar was Minos which is situated in the main square opposite Marinella's. Minos is a lively bar with plenty of happy people dancing around the music consisted of mainly commericial garage, again great barstaff.

We walked into Marinella's but found it too packed and a bit moody this seemed to be the bar where all the DJ's and MC's hung out. They played some great music in there.

The Jasmine Inn is another lively place I could only go there once as the blokes that we encountered there that night were so drunk, they got to letchy and annoying. The bar people there are nuts, they proceeded to spray soda water over people, cream anything they could get there hands on. They also came round the tables with a bottle of drink and poured it down peoples mouths.

The Dive Inn became one of our favorite bars as well, this bar is on the way to the square, this place comes alive when the 18-30 mob come in, they made us laugh with there chants of "Who Let the dogs out" , I also think for food The Dive Inn comes top on my list, the food in our hotel was like rubber, in fact we really didn't enjoy the food anywhere other than Dive Inn, Mc Donalds and Kentucky, now thats pushing it when you say Mc Donalds is good.

The clubs we visited consisted of Sun City at the Kool club.

We were recommended this night by Mike Ruff Cut who was in our hotel. He played that night alongside Ramsey and Mc Unknown, we also had the added delight of seeing Lonyo singing Summer of love, it was a wicked P.A. He really held his voice and the crowd loved it.

Mc Unknown style was not to my taste but he still did his job well, the crowd did respond to him. Our best club night had to be La Costra Nostra at the Spot Club, we entered the club on Funky Smiths set, he was soon to joined by our favorite radio dj and Mc's, The Heartless Crew(London England)
These guys can bring me out of a bad mood anytime, they are so hyper.

They had the Spot club in stitches, there lyrics are funny. Dj Fonti played a wicked garage set, top tunes all the way though. He ended his set with some back to 93 Jungle style, the place was jumping, me and kayla and Al thought we were back at Roller Express, it was brilliant.

I've never been into House music but we thought what the heck might as well give it a try. We went to a club called Abyss, which I think has 2 room we ended up in a large room downstairs. It was very cold in there, it was Lisa Loud playing. I only knew of her from being on the Ian Wright show(England).

Unfortunately I found it really hard to get into the music, she seems like she is a wicked DJ. She really got into it with the crowd, at the end they were begging her to stay on, especially the men. She did look rather stunning that night.

Ice Koo was another good night, with top UK dj - EZ playing. This was another drink fuelled night for us all and poor Al fell over and cut his head open and done his back in. Silly Man, you must be careful in Napa.

They sell these t'shirts in the Kool club that are just so fitting, "fucked up in Ayia Napa" I think everyone should get one, because the words are so true.

Some of our best moments had to watching the sun set over Cape Greco. Watching the sky melt into the sea, it was times like those I thought I could spend my life here.

Cyprus on a whole is a beautiful island. It's a shame that we don't respect it enough. Nissi beach looks like a trash can at the end of the day. I've seen both Nissi and Fig Tree beaches late in the evening. Nissi always looked alot worse.

We got to speak to alot of Cypriots who have lived though the change of Ayia Napa being the sleepy fishing villiage to the clubbing capital. We heard of some of the terrible things that the tourists have done. It made us ashamed, its not worth saying what sick things people have done if they read it they would laugh and think its funny.

There is also a little beach at the bottom of the Grecian Sands hotel, which is nice for a little romance after clubbing. Its easy to go skinny dipping in the sea. Its a totally sureal experience under the stars. There is fishing boats out there which sheads a little light on the sea, so its not to scary.

From what I hear the Nissi beach is over packed with lovers. Apparently if you go by at a certain time, you are sure to see plenty of bums bobbing up and down.

If you do hire a car it gives you more freedom and I totally recommend this as it can get a bit tiresome going to the square every night.

So one night after a day of me getting totally sunburnt we all deceided to go to Niccosia which is the capital of Cyprus, due to our crap map reading skills and direction it took us 3 hours to get there.
On the way back I done it in 1x hour, took that jeep to its limits on the way back.

Niccosia is a beautiful city. It has lots of decent clothes shops, and was like Kings Road (London, England)
Nice bar/cafes on the main roads. It is a real nice city. My sun burn was really kicking in so we unfortunately didn't get to spend alot of time there.

Next year I will travel more. I'm hoping to go to Paphos, Truedos mountains and a lot lot more, Cyprus has so much to offer other than Ayia Napa. I stongly recommend going no shorter than 2 weeks if you would like to do more. There are plenty of deep sea diving centres.

You have the bungee jump "not for chickens like me ", and lots of water sports.