Sonia Writer: 01/01/2012

Cyprus is a bird watchers paradise!

This is due to it's location, which places Cyprus in some of the main migratory routes for birds between Europe and Africa. Hundreds of pink flamingos regularly make the stop-over at the Larnaca and Arkrotiri Salt Lakes, and yes luckily for us, the seasonal lake of Oroklini, in our own village, each winter! They arrive in late autumn, usually in groups, but this year we had a single bird who was stranded on it's own for several months (we think it lost his friends on the way to Larnaca!) These lovely creatures then leave us in their wake as the spring heat dries out the lakes.

The Salt Lake, Larnaca

Oroklini Lake

Aren't they beautiful?

This area will dry out completely in the summer!

Remember that great song by Manfred Mann?

On our block all of the guys call her flamingo
Cause her hair glows like the sun
And her eyes can light the sky
When she moves she walks so fine like a flamingo
Crimson dress that clings so tight
She's out of reach and out of sight

When she walks by she brightens up the neighbourhood
Oh every guy would make her his if he just could
If she just would

Some sweet day I'll make her mine, pretty flamingo
Then every guy will envy me
Cause paradise is where I'll be

Pretty flamingo, pretty flamingo

lalalalalalala... I can hear you singing!

I am delighted to say that the new pier at Protaras is now finished and ready for visitors. I have long been a fan of the sea-side leisure pier and I think this new one is a nice construction, which adds a lot of character to the holiday resort. The new pier has an accompanying walkway, spanning the length of the beach up to Fig Tree Bay, giving direct access to the large, luxurious hotels along the sea front. With some of the best beaches in Cyprus, Protaras has so much to offer, for both residents of the island and a holiday makers.

The design of the pier is a traditional wooden structure and does reflect the early piers which first made an appearance on the Isle of White, off the English coast, with Ryde Pier in 1814. This pier was originally built for landing traffic from the ferries but amusements and refreshments were also added at a later date, making it the first fun pier for public use.

The early pleasure piers were probably at their most fashionable in the Victorian era in England and Wales. The most notable being the two piers at Brighton in East Sussex and three at Blackpool in Lancashire. Unfortunately many of the old British piers have fallen into disuse from neglect in recent years, and I have recently signed a petition to save the pier at Whitby, North Yorkshire, which is slowly being destroyed by neglect.

My favourite pier is still, the now derelict, West Pier in Brighton, which was destroyed by fire and storms. I believe there was something almost magical about it, and it was there I chose to set the nightmare sequence in my novel The Main Line Murders (it is actually set in Cramwell a fictional town in the north east of England but I borrowed the pier!)

The popularity of the pleasure piers spread across the world with notable piers at Scheveningen in the coastal town of The Hague in the Netherlands, (which was built in 1961 to replace the original lost in the war in 1944) which has a wonderful panoramic observational tower; and the Rolls Royce of piers, which is in my opinion, the Blankenberge Pier in Belgium.

If you are visiting Protaras, I hope you enjoy the pier and new walkways as much as I did. It is wonderful to see new piers being built at a time when so many others have been left to decay.