2.44 Facts about Cyprus (learn English with pie)

♫ Cypriot music ♪ Cyprus is the most eastern of the Mediterranean islands and at 9,251 square kilometres it’s the third largest island after Sardinia and Sicily. Northern Cyprus is probably one of the… if not the best place in… certainly in the Mediterranean, for seeing green and loggerhead turtles. And they come here on these beaches every summer between May and August and then the little hatchlings stroll down the beach into the sea right up until August every year. Now Cyprus is divided into two. The southern two thirds is run by Greek Cypriots and the northern third run by Turkish Cypriots. Now in Greece and in Turkey, they’re both countries in Europe, they drive on the right. But in Cyprus we drive on the left so I’ve got a right-hand car… a right-hand drive car which has been imported from the UK because the UK ran Cyprus for so long as far as I’m aware it’s one of the very few countries in Europe to drive on the left-hand side of the road like in the UK. ♫ Cypriot music ♪ Northern Cyprus has everything: wonderful beaches, castles, mountains, sun, sea, sand, fantastic food and a great climate even in the winter time so no wonder that tourism is the number one industry. Another interesting thing about Cyprus is the currency. Now, we’ve just hired a car and we’ve paid in pound sterling but also of course we’re in northern Cyprus so they pay for things in Turkish lira but also they accept euro which is the currency of southern Cyprus. ♫ Cypriot music ♪ Well, obviously we’re in Cyprus which is a divided country and now we’re in Nicosia which is the divided capital. We’re in the Turkish side and as you can see here there’s the... on the right the red Turkish flag and on the left the Turkish Cypriot flag and just on the other side is the Greek Cypriot side and you can see the flag of the Republic of Cyprus and the flag of Greece. ♫ Cypriot music ♪ According to Greek legend the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, was born on the island of Cyprus and it is her that gave the eternal beauty to Cyprus and er... I can see that. ♫ Cypriot music ♪