 | McLae´s guide to Cyprus |  |
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Cyprus Internet country code: .cy International telephone prefix: +357  Cyprus is the legendary birthplace of the goddess of beauty, love, sex and passion, the beautiful Aphrodite. According to Hesiod's Theogony, the goddess, who was also known as Kypris or the Cyprian, emerged fully grown from the sea where the severed genitals of the god Uranus were cast by his son, Kronos, causing the sea to foam (Greek: Aphros). The legendary site of Aphrodite's birth from the foam is at 'Petra tou Romiou' (or 'Aphrodite's Rock'), a large stack in the sea close to the coastal cliffs near Paphos. Throughout ancient history, Cyprus was a flourishing centre for the cultic worship of Aphrodite. Independence from the UK was approved in 1960 with constitutional guarantees by the Greek Cypriot majority to the Turkish Cypriot minority. Cyprus since 1974 is a divided nation with the western and more southern part of the island, which is under Greek Cypriot control, known as the Republic of Cyprus (internationally recognised), while the Turkish Cypriot area, in the northern and eastern part of the island, refers to itself as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey). The United Nations operates a peacekeeping force on the island between the two Cypriot ethnic groups. Hostilities are currently absent and have been for some time, as the two sides (now with the growing involvement of the European Union) gradually inch towards a reunification of some description... As the two regions are nearly completely separate from a traveller's point of view, McLae.com will concentrate on the southern territory governed by the Republic of Cyprus. |
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