Nikki Salter, Author at Ampeli Villa, Pissouri Bay, Cyprus

A Phenomenon of Nature

Nikki Salter Activities, Nature, Pissouri August 6, 2025October 2, 2025anchovies, pissouri bay, snorkel, swim 0 Comment

Jumping anchovies — Shoal of jumping anchovies

Silvery Fish Fountains

Have to share this magical experience we had while swimming one November morning at our favourite area for snorkelling towards the western end of Pissouri Bay…

Shoals of tiny slim silver fish suddenly jumped out of the sea near the shore. Bursting out of the surface, their formations created mesmerising glistening silvery fountains – almost simultaneously rising in one spot, then leaping in all directions, before reappearing elsewhere. We watched in delight and astonishment. In the grand finale, the formation changed, this time in sequence each fish leapt towards the same direction – creating a marvellous curved Mexican wave.

Why Do They Do This?

We could hardly believe what we had witnessed. On learning later that there were earthquake tremors at this exact moment, we wondered if that was the cause. However, as we found another beach regular who has seen this phenomenon in the same area, at times when there was no seismic activity, it seems likely this was purely coincidental.

Curiosity lead us to look into this further… It seems that while a number of fish species habitually leap out of the water, this was most likely to have been a shoal of anchovies; both from the appearance of the fish, and this typical behaviour pattern – descriptively known to fishing folk as ‘boils’.

Due to their tiny size and vulnerability, it is to their advantage to swim together in large synchronised groups. Mass leaping out of the water can be a defence strategy, when the shoal is chased by a predator. It also forms a part of their spawning ritual, which can take place at all times of the year. Or perhaps the anchovies were spooked by us. It would be wonderful to learn more about this fascinating behaviour.

If you are visiting Pissouri Bay, particularly western end of the beach, towards the Cape Aspro headland, keep your eyes out for this glorious free display.

“Best Tourism Village”

Nikki Salter Activities, Culture, Events, Nature, Pissouri March 12, 2025August 2, 2025concerts, culture, music, pissouri, pissouri amphitheatre, pissouri bay, trails, turtles 0 Comment

We are delighted and proud that the United Nations World Travel Organisation recently awarded our corner of Cyprus a “Best Tourism Village” Award. No wonder so many Pissouri visitors stay in touch and return season after season.

What Makes Pissouri So Special?

Care for Nature and the Environment

For many years our beach has been patrolled by members of Pissouri Turtlewatch. This dedicated band of nature lovers organise dawn beach inspections during the summer nesting season to check for turtle tracks along the sands. Once the tell-tale marks are spotted, the nest site is carefully investigated to check for eggs. The mother loggerhead may make several attempts to nest before selecting her preferred site. When a viable nest is found, the location is marked and protected from potential predators (and parasols) with a circle of stones, a marker and a special cage. The site is monitored until between 49 and 58 days later the hatchlings emerge and head for the safety of the sea, often at night. Turtlewatch volunteers aim to be on hand for this, using red-light torches to avoid disorientating the vulnerable creatures.

Welcoming and Tourist-Friendly

The village has identified and mapped eight trails for walkers and mountain bikers, choosing routes with attractive views and scenery. They vary in difficulty and distance. Clear information boards with maps, points of interest, and details of the routes offer a comprehensive guide to make it easy for visitors to select and navigate the trails. More: Pissouri Trails

Cultural and Community Heritage

Pissouri village square is the central hub of the village where locals, ex-pats and tourists gather for community social events. At various times of the year this will be the venue for music and folk dancing in traditional dress. Greek Orthodox Easter is a big celebration in Cyprus and an opportunity to try a Cypriot meze while enjoying the village entertainments in the square. Throughout the summer there are also ‘Cyprus Nights’ where you can learn a few steps if you wish to join in with the dancing. There are also marvellous glass-balancing feats on display.

Just along from the square is the amphitheatre where there is a popular programme of summer music concerts. This vibrant community event, generally on Saturdays, is highly recommended.

Commitment to Sustainability

Pissouri retains its charm as a small and environmentally-friendly resort. There are planning restrictions on buildings meaning you will not find any high rise developments. Summer tourists are accommodated in apartments and villas, or year-round visitors in the Columbia Hotel. While there is a good range of restaurants, and a few bars, it remains a quiet family-friendly destination.

Only one other village in Cyprus received the same prestigious award in 2024 – and that is the mountain village of Kalopanayiotis. A cool retreat high in the Troodos, this beautiful historic village is a lovely place to visit and explore for a change of scene. More: Kalopanayiotis

Pissouri 2025: Magical Music Events

Nikki Salter Pissouri March 10, 2025October 1, 2025concerts, music, pissouri amphitheatre 0 Comment

Just off Pissouri Square, the village built this magnificent modern amphitheatre as their ‘millennium project’. With a sea-view backdrop from the tiered stone steps, shows begin in daylight and continue through sunset, finishing under floodlights. A great community get-together, the atmosphere is lively and relaxed – with chat, banter, singing and dancing. Everyone takes cushions to sit on (a must for comfort!), plus cool boxes with drinks and snacks.

A visit to Pissouri amphitheatre for one of the summer ‘tribute act’ shows is one of our favs. There’s something magical and special about a live musical performance, and when it includes so many familiar numbers, you’re on to a winner.

Here is a list of the shows planned for the coming season – at the time of writing… See the promoters’ websites (links below) for updates as additional events are added.

Restaurant Shows

Outside the main season, events move indoors to local restaurants where you usually combine an evening of dinner and music.

Amphitheatre Live Tribute Concerts

By visiting the Cyprus tour promoters’ websites and Facebook pages, you can find further information on dates, venues, tickets, prices, etc. If there’s a concert you’d like to catch during your holiday, do book up early (you can do it online) to be sure of your tickets, as popular events can sell out.

Kendall Events

Morrelli Events

Other Ideas For Your Cyprus Holiday

Our Top Ten List

Our Lovely New Pool and Garden

Nikki Salter Ampeli Villa April 20, 2024October 3, 2025ampeli villa, cyprus, pissouri, pool 0 Comment

This year’s big changes have been a great team effort…

The Pergola

Firstly huge thanks to the multi-talented Rhys and Dave who custom-made and installed this fantastic new pergola. Quite a challenge, due to the dimensions, but – we think – the perfect size for the outdoor dining area.

And the finishing touch is a neat dual-purpose canopy from Victoria Tents. Giving shade from the year-round Cyprus sun, along with waterproof protection from the off-season rain, this will make the patio a much more versatile space.

The Pool

The biggest change, though, is with the pool… It all started with the idea of replacing the liner and adding a border of ceramic mosaic tiles to help keep the waterline in tip-top condition. After meeting the wonderful Yiangos, and seeing his examples of his work, the job grew quite a lot bigger!

The pool depths have been altered… with the deeper end reduced, and the shallower depth slightly increased. The idea is that now at 1.5 metres, adults can stand up in the deeper end, making it better for games like water polo, but keeping the shallower end for children. Also with a 1 metre depth, you can swim all the way to the Roman steps – no longer bumping into the bottom.

Colin the chlorine dispenser — Meet Colin – floating around, topping-up the chlorine.

The simple new pool edging is granite. On the surrounding terrace, the previous patterned concrete has been replaced with anti-slip tiles recommended for swimming pools. The old earthquake cracks are a thing of the past, and everything looks fresh and neat. New post lights finish the updating. We are delighted with the finished result – hope our guests feel the same.

(We also took the opportunity to renew the pipework and install new equipment to make the pool run more effectively, bringing it above ground in the process.)

Yiangos has stressed that to preserve the new pipework, we should use a floating dispenser to keep the chemical levels correct – hence our new friend Colin the chlorine dispenser.

The Garden

In preparing for the pool works and pergola, elements of the garden had to be considerably reduced. Some shrubs we had fondly watched maturing over many years were removed and the fragrant stephanotis on the old pergola cut back. Although initially a bit of a shock, we soon got used to the new look, and came to like it at least as much, if not more than the old one. Without plants encroaching on the path, it’s easier to walk round the pool and there is more room for sun loungers. That, the tiling, and the new gravel make the garden look bigger. It feels like we’ve had a massive declutter!

Clever Holiday Money-Saving Tips

Nikki Salter Pissouri, Travel March 11, 2024March 22, 2024holiday, money saving, travel, travel tips 0 Comment

Save on Card Charges

Choose a bank card that is free from non-sterling transaction charges or ATM cash withdrawal fees. You can find regularly-updated advice on this at consumer advice websites, such as MoneySavingExpert.com.

Always pay in the local currency to obtain the bank exchange rate – which is often much closer to the interbank rate – instead of the one set by the retailer.

Use debit cards for ATM cash withdrawals, rather than credit cards to avoid interest charges. And try to use bank ATMs, rather than the yellow-and-blue stand-alone ones which charge a fee.

Airport Transfers

For a stay in Pissouri Bay, you can holiday comfortably without a hire car. If that is your preferred option, (particularly if your flight is to Paphos airport), we recommend pre-booking a local taxi for a friendly meet-and-greet service at the airport. See our Travel Info page for more.

If you are hiring a car, airport pick-up and drop-off is the simplest option. Buying a stand-alone car hire excess waiver policy online before your holiday is normally much cheaper than the options that the rental company offer at the desk. Check out the choices at Money Maxim.

Mobile Roaming

Post-Brexit, the larger UK mobile networks – with the exception of O2 – have reintroduced roaming charges, unless you buy a European roaming package. Virtual providers such as Asda, GiffGaff, ID, Lebara, Lycamobile, Spusu and Tesco are currently offering various roam-like-home options to allow you to use your normal allowances abroad. (Check conditions – limitations may apply.)

You can easily get by without mobile roaming, using the secure villa WiFi for apps like FaceTime and WhatsApp for calling or messaging. It’s a good idea to download maps for offline use, and – if you need out-and-about internet access – hop on a free public WiFi hotspot – widely available in shops, restaurants and bars.

Health Insurance

Make sure you have an up-to-date health insurance card. This used to be the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card). EHICs remain valid until date expiry.

The replacement for UK residents is now a GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card). It’s free to apply for yours via the form on the NHS website, taking around 15 working days. Although no substitute for travel insurance – which provides a far higher level of cover – it is a useful backup allowing minimal cost access to reciprocal healthcare at Cyprus state hospitals.

Avdimou Stone Circles

Nikki Salter Activities, Food and Drink, Nature, Pissouri July 18, 2023August 2, 2025avdimou, melanda 0 Comment

Lovingly created over a period of years (2015-2022) this unique artwork by Paphos-based animator Pavel Muntyan is a great spot for meditation and scenic views. These fabulous stone circles can be found on the clifftops above Avdimou beach. Located a short walk westwards along the cliff path next to Melanda Beach Restaurant, Pavel assembled the circular spiral labyrinths by bringing in over 15 tonnes of stones. One maze contains carefully selected red stones, another comprises blue-green ones, and the largest is created from beach pebbles. There is also a standing stone circle and beautiful natural planting. With the backdrop of the coastal cliffs and the turquoise Mediterranean Sea, the whole effect, especially on a typical Cyprus sunny day, is stunning.

Walking route to Avdimou stone circles — Coastal path walk between Ampeli Villa and Avdimou Beach, showing location of stone circles en route

This map shows the cliff path route from the Ampeli Villa or from Melanda Beach restaurant. Another option is to drive part-way making a shorter walk along the coastal path, starting from the parking spot at the end of Kyriakou Matsi on the clifftop above Pissouri Bay.

Avdimou Beach

Avdimou beach is to the east of Pissouri. From Pissouri Bay, it can be reached either by a short drive or for the more energetic, a 3-mile scenic walk from Ampeli Villa along the clifftop path. Here visitors will find a picturesque quiet beach, safe swimming in a gently shelving bay and two good Cypriot restaurants.

Melanda Beach Restaurant

Melanda Beach Restaurant is a popular restaurant specialising in the freshest of local fish and seafood.

Kyrenia Beach Taverna

Kyrenia Beach Taverna is reputed to offer the best stifado on the island (slow-cooked tender beef in red wine).

What Lies Beneath

Nikki Salter Activities, Nature, Pissouri May 15, 2023March 11, 2024pissouri bay, snorkel, turtles 0 Comment

Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa

Diving or Snorkelling?

Cyprus is well-known as a great Mediterranean SCUBA diving location, with coral reefs, crystal-clear waters, teeming marine life, an assortment of shipwrecks, plus an underwater museum. There are dive centres in all the resorts catering for everyone from beginners to intermediate and advanced divers.

But equipped with only a mask and snorkel, you too can explore these underwater delights. And there’s no need to venture far… Our very own Pissouri Bay has plenty of treasures beneath the surface. You don’t even need to be a great swimmer. There is plenty of marine life in the shallow waters only a few metres from the beach.

Majestic Turtles

Turtles are very much our number one favourite. Every year mature female loggerheads return to their ‘home’ beach to lay their eggs overnight. These turtles grow to an enormous size. They can be as much as a metre long. Hatchlings, in contrast, are typically a miniscule and vulnerable 5 cm.

Flamboyant Wrasses

The wrasse family stands out as being a particularly colourful and attractive species. Males and females of the same varieties have similar, but distinctively different, patterns of blue, green orange and yellow. We have seen beautiful male and female ornate wrasses close to the beach at the western end of Pissouri Bay.

Silvery Sea Bream

The predominant coastal fish species tends to be the sea bream. A silvery, sandy, almost translucent colour with a range of black markings, they tend to swim in groups. Look out for zebra-striped, two-banded, vertical-striped, lateral-striped, black, white and saddled versions.

Striped or Red Mullet — Colour-Changing
Striped (Red) Mullet

The Striped Mullet – A Marine Chameleon

With its whiskery barbels, the striped mullet (also known as the red mullet) is perhaps not the most appealing looking of species, but if you spot one snuffling along the sea bed, try not to let it escape your gaze, because they have an interesting hidden talent. While they swim, to avoid detection by predators, the mullet may exhibit amazing chameleon-like colour-changing. They can disguise themselves quite dramatically – gaining or losing stripes, altering colours and patterns – all to blend with their surroundings.

Marine Life Guides

Below are some of the creatures you are likely to encounter when snorkelling or diving around Cyprus. In the villa handbook we have added a new page of ‘Bay Marine Life’ based on our personal underwater exploration. For guest reference, there is also a comprehensive laminated dive log card, to help identify 80 species found in Mediterranean waters.

MUSAN: Museum of Underwater Sculpture, Ayia Napa

Created by artist Jason deCaires Taylor in 2021, this innovative underwater museum features 93 tree and figure sculptures within 200 metres of the Ayia Napa shore. At depths of between 8 and 10 metres, the forest is designed to be easily explored by both divers and snorkellers.

Further details: MUSAN

Welcoming 2023 Guests

Nikki Salter Pissouri April 30, 2023May 4, 2023new season, season, updates, villa 0 Comment

Home-From-Home

One of the joys of staying in a holiday villa rather than a hotel, is the complete freedom it gives you. A villa really is a home-from-home, because you have the whole place to yourselves – there’s no sharing with strangers. You can rise and retire whenever you like, dine in or out as you prefer, there are no queues anywhere, and never any worries about finding a vacant lounger by the pool.

As Ampeli Villa is a well-loved and much-visited holiday home, our stays are not only a time for maintenance and updates, but also exploration to find new ideas to share with our guests – places to see, restaurants to visit and activities to experience in the local area. We share these regularly via the website, particularly on Our Cyprus Guide blog.

Stepladders Out!

At this time of the year Cyprus comes to life. Out come the stepladders, drills and pots of paint, as everyone beavers away sprucing up their surroundings after the winter rains. And at Ampeli Villa we have been busy bees getting ready for our summer visitors too…

Villa Changes

Pissouri Cyprus Night Returns

Nikki Salter Activities, Dining, Events June 25, 2022October 1, 2025cyprus night, pissouri 0 Comment

At long last, a favourite of holiday visitors and local residents, one of our Cyprus Top Ten list, is returning to the heart of the village. Organised by O’Vrakas and Symposio restaurants in Pissouri Square, the much-missed evening of dinner accompanied by a family-friendly show of traditional music and dancing, plus spectacular glass-balancing feats is back for the peak 2022 season.

More village highlights, while you are visiting Pissouri – a typical Cypriot village.

For extra activities that we are happy to personally recommend, see Our Top Ten List.

Why Buy Travel Insurance?

Nikki Salter Travel October 31, 2020August 2, 2025insurance 0 Comment

One thing 2020 has shown us is the vital importance of making sure you have good travel insurance. Not only in case anything goes awry during your time away, but also to cover any unforeseen eventualities that might arise between booking and travel – such as the dreaded Covid-19 – it’s crucial to take out your travel insurance at the time you book your holiday. Putting off arranging your travel insurance until just before your trip, or risking travelling without any insurance could be costly mistakes.

If you take several holidays or business trips abroad within a year, it may be worthwhile exploring annual insurance options, rather than relying on a number of separate single-trip policies. Not only could this save time and hassle, but it could save money too.

Cover to look out for:

Medical expenses – including private hospital stays, private medical treatment, and in an extreme emergency – getting you back home (medical repatriation) – while a good European travel policy will give £1 million worth of cover, for travel to the USA you need £2 million medical insurance
Cancellation and curtailment – in case you need to cancel your holiday entirely, or to return home early – look for £2000 minimum cover
Missed departure or delays – due to unforeseen circumstances such as a car breakdown or accident en route to the airport – aim for at least £500 cover
Lost, stolen or damaged luggage – ideally over £1500 cover
Valuables and currency – whatever you need for valuables cover, plus maybe £500 for money equivalents (such as pre-paid tickets) and £300 for cash
Personal liability cover – in case you accidentally injure a third party, or damage property – a good policy will offer £2 million cover
Scheduled airline failure – in case your airline goes out of business – £1500 plus
Loss of passport – towards the additional expenses involved in replacing a lost or stolen passport – perhaps £250

Packaged bank accounts

When – thanks to a birthday – the cost of our annual policy suddenly leapt up, we were very glad to learn about the benefits of packaged bank accounts which include travel insurance within the monthly account fee. If you fit the income criteria and can make use of the perks these accounts offer, they can offer fantastic value.

But which to choose? We searched trusted information sources online for an unbiased assessment and advice. MoneySavingExpert.com recommends checking out the Co-op Everyday Extra account (£15 per month) for couples and older travellers as it provides worldwide family travel insurance up to age 80, plus smartphone insurance and RAC breakdown cover. They also suggest considering the Halifax Ultimate Reward account (£17 per month) for worldwide family travel insurance (including winter sports), smartphone insurance, home emergency cover and AA breakdown cover. Which.co.uk highlights the First Direct First Directory account (£15 per month) offering a similar package.

Nationwide FlexPlus

Another account to consider is the Nationwide FlexPlus account (£13 per month) chosen by both MoneySavingExpert and Which as their best buy.

Why?

Like the others, it offers comprehensive worldwide family travel cover (including winter sports), plus smartphone insurance, along with UK and European breakdown cover – this time with Britannia Rescue. MSE calculates the value of the total package as £500 for an annual fee of £156. Also as it can be a joint account, a couple can both benefit. And flexible additional cover can be added if you need it… For example if you are over 70, have existing medical conditions, want to add hazardous activities, or to make trips over their standard 31 days.

At the time of writing Nationwide has (hopefully temporarily) closed their Recommend-a-Friend scheme where anyone opening a FlexPlus account using a referral from an existing customer earns each party a £100 bonus. If you are considering opening an account for the insurance package, do check first whether this has been reinstated and get in touch if you would like to know our referral code.

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