Casinos and More in Ayia Napa. Ayia Napa may not be well known for its casinos, but there's a lot more to do here. Tourists speak highly of the pristine beaches, swimming spots, and fantastic nightlife. You might want to visit top attractions like Ayia Napa Monastery. When deciding on somewhere to stay, you can pick from 176 lodging options in. Love Ayia Napa was founded in 2010 as an online resort guide and has since developed into a complete booking site for a wide variety of holiday experiences. It is now the largest website dedicated to the Ayia Napa region and offers endless information and options to ensure you have the best holiday possible in this beautiful resort.
The partypoker WPT National Cyprus Main Event takes place at the Noah’s Ark Deluxe Hotel & Casino on January 23 and it has the makings of another poker extravaganza.
The main event, with its €2,000 buy-in, guarantees a €300,000 prize pool and is certain to attract, like moths to a flame, some of Europe’s premium poker talent.
Cyprus is a funny old country, one that is visited by more than two million tourists each and every year.
Yet it’s still a country most people don’t know much about. Hopefully, after reading these five things you may not know about Cyprus, you’ll be comfortable facing a Mastermind-like interrogation about the enigmatic nation.
Cyprus is the birthplace of Aphrodite
The Greek goddess Aphrodite is said to have been born in Cyprus, in a placed called Paphos. For all of us stoic men that didn’t know, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation, which places her comfortably atop our favourite-goddess list.
Cronus – son of Gaia, the great mother of all – cut off his father Uranus‘ genitals, or so legend has it, and threw them into the sea (and some people think they have dysfunctional families). Aphrodite then rose from the resulting sea foam (we’ll have a pint of whatever they were drinking when they came up with that).
Other gods feared that Aphrodite’s beauty – and the fact she may or may not have got her kit off at the drop of a hat – would cause war among the gods so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who, apparently, was the dour and humourless god of smiting.
That’s enough of Greek mythology for now.
Ayia Napa Nissi Beach
Ayia Napa – Never has a name been so wrong
In Greek, the word “Ayia” means “holy” and “Napa” means “wooded valley” so you’d expect Ayia Napa to be a holy wooded valley, wouldn’t you? And while there are many picturesque and beautifully historic sites in Ayia Napa, it is, unfortunately, best known for its bustling nightlife and drunken debauchery.
With so many drunken revellers swarming the streets, it’s more likely you’ll wake up with a horrific hangover than make a Royal Flush, so be good when you’re on a night out or learn to find a brilliant hangover cure.
It has been invaded more times than you’ve had a Sunday roast
Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean and, thanks to its prime location, has long been a target of invaders.
The Republic of Cyprus, as it’s officially referred to, is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt and east of Greece, which has led to many countries vying for its strategically perfect position.
Cyprus gained its independence on August 16, 1960, but in 1974 Turkish forces invaded and claimed a large section of northern Cyprus. This area was declared the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state that only Turkey recognises. To this day, there is a UN buffer zone separating it from “Greek Cyprus.”
The British Army has two bases in Cyprus that covers 98 square miles. They are the home to about 3,500 military personnel. Don’t misbehave in Ayia Napa because these bad boys might be bored and looking for something to do.
Cypriots love football, but their teams leave a lot to be desired
Cypriots are very passionate about football, but sadly they don’t have much to cheer about. The national football team, currently ranked 86th in the world (putting them alongside such footballing giants as Benin, Malawi, and Lithuania), has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup or a UEFA European Championship and has lost 150 of its 202 qualification matches – and we thought England’s track record of late has been poor.
Having reached the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, APOEL FC, from Nicosia, are the nation’s most successful club team.
Poker history was created in Cyprus
In May 2012, former partypoker Team Pro Marvin Rettenmaier won the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas and had to stuff almost $1,200,000 into his designer suitcase. Three short months later, the popular guitar-plucking German won the opening event of the new WPT season when he bested a crowd of 329 at the Merit Cyrstal Cove Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus. In doing so, Rettenmaier became the first player in the WPT’s long and illustrious history to win back-to-back WPT main events, stamping his name into the history books.
There’s also been another back-to-back win, of sorts, in Cyprus. In July 2014, Russia’s Alexander Lakhov won the partypoker WPT National North Cyprus main event. He followed that up with another win at the partypoker WPT Martic Classic North Cyprus Main Event in September 2014.
If Lakhov’s on your table in Cyprus this weekend, give him your stack as he’s likely to win it at some point anyway! It might save you the prolonged anguish.
Have you been to Cyprus or is there anything you’d like to add about the enigmatic island? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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After the successful opening of the C2 Ayia Napa Casino earlier in the month, Ayia Napa Mayor, Yiannos Karousos officially inaugurated the new facilities, with the casino opening its doors on July 15th. The grand opening marked a new era for Ayia Napa’s tourism sector, as it is introduced as the vacation resort’s first casino.
As many will already be aware, Ayia Napa is a particularly popular destination for holiday-goers. However, Mayor Yiannos Karousos recently vowed to change the image of the resort earlier in the year, and the opening of a casino looks like the first bid to turn Ayia Napa into a year-round destination. But just what does the casino offer and how will it benefit the holiday resort as a whole?
Cyprus Casinos ‘C2 Ayia Napa’ opens its doors https://t.co/0O7ifJEgs0
— Cyprus Mail (@cyprusmail) July 15, 2019
Inside the Casino Walls
Hotels In Ayia Napa Cyprus
With more than 255 state-of-the-art slot machines and 33 gaming tables, the C2 Ayia Napa is certainly an impressive casino. The building itself is grand, modern and easy to navigate, which helps if you like to switch back and forth between rounds of roulette.
Ayia Napa Weather
There are a plethora of games on offer including casino favorites such as blackjack, American roulette and stud poker. In addition to this, the casino also offers some of the more specialized card games like Russian poker and mini punto banco – those wanting to brush up on their skills can get this bonus from Bonus.ca, and take advantage of the extensive gaming library which caters for all types of players, so you could even practice your card skills before visiting the new C2.
What Will the Casino Bring to the Area?
C2 Ayia Napa is located within the Famagusta district and already employs over 40 members of staff from the local area. Property President of Cyprus Casinos C2, Craig Ballantyne has reaffirmed that the company will continue to provide career opportunities to Cypriot citizens. For those who are unfamiliar with the area, it will probably come as a bit of a shock that it’s taken Ayia Napa so long to get onto the casino bandwagon.
However, the opening of a casino could well be the last piece of the puzzle in turning the resort into an all-around entertainment center, and will undoubtedly attract new customers into the resort, as well as appeasing regular visitors to the area.
The First of Many?
Rob The Casino Ayia Napa Hotel
There’s no doubt that Ayia Napa has the potential to become one of the premier casino destinations in Europe. If the C2 casino turns out to be a success (and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t) then this will undoubtedly pave the way for more exciting projects to be built within the resort. Ultimately, the casino industry and Ayia Napa’s vacation reputation are a match made in heaven. Undoubtedly, this could well be the beginning of a very successful relationship between the two.