One of The Biggest Culture Events in Cyprus
The wine festival of Limassol is held yearly for two weeks starting at the end of August lasting for 12 days in September. The wine festival is one of the biggest culture events that takes place only in Limassol and praise the glory of the Cypriot wine which entertains around more than 50,000 visitors, locals and tourists.
The Festival Attracts a High Number of Tourists
The main events of the festival are of Greek music and dancing. They are carried out by local singers that belong to the folklore club of Limassol. Guest artists from overseas also join them. During this event Cyprus attracts a high number of tourists from around the world mainly from Europe and other countries worldwide.
Other kinds of events are: magic shows, comedy shows and concerts of the Municipality Philharmonic Orchestra that perform at some venues. In order to emphasize the connection between the dancing and the music, the festival offers to watch the process of grape treading. Also the visitors can enjoy various kinds of free traditional food and wine tastes.
Free Wine
At the event free wine is offered so you can drink as much you want and even take some home in the bottles bought at the festival. The Wine Festival was organised for the first time in 1961 and since then it has become an annual event of entertainment and fun, in which not only the citizens of Limassol but visitors from every part of Cyprus come also to enjoy the evening.
Nowadays this event it’s known worldwide and in September of each year, Limassol becomes the attraction of thousands of tourists who visit the Municipal Garden to enjoy the Wine Festival and joint the locals in many activities during the festival.
Feel the Warmth and Welcome of the Cypriots
The tourist become one with the locals as one family, they become the protagonists since the Festival is a play which is mounted and the visitors are the enthusiasts due to the warmth and welcome of the Cypriots that makes them feel an inward sense of comfort, free from social conventions, in an atmosphere of unconditional friendship, generated by the mysterious effect of wine.
In the Honour of the God of Wine Dionysus
Drinking Cypriot wine is as if the rays of sunlight and the romantic magic of the land and the sky of Cyprus transfused you. Since ancient times Cyprus became a festivity place to celebrate the production of wine. The Wine Festival in Limassol may be considered a variation of the ancient
festivities, a revival of the ancestor worship and rites in the honour of Dionysus, the god of vine and wine and Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love.
In the antiquity our ancestors worshipped this god and goddess by drinking wine, which rejoiced them. The gods high on Olympus Mountain enjoyed the nectar, which is the quintessence of wine. In ancient Greece the wine became the drink of gods and man.
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Cyprus is Renowned for its Good Wine
Cyprus is renowned for its good wine in different varieties. In Byzantine times, eminent and renowned people drank the sweet wine. In mediaeval times Cyprus was always renowned for its wine.
The reputation of the Cypriot wine is on top of the list, which has led to the Wine Festival becoming an established cultural event for Limassol, the town of merriment and joy.
The Wine Festival an Important Traditional Festivity
Tourists, consequently, consider the Wine Festival an important traditional festivity and a significant cultural event. Apart from its festive nature, its role in promoting the Cypriot wines, which have in many cases been the inspiration of poets and novelists, cannot be neglected throughout centuries.
The Wine Festival was born in Cyprus one year of independence on the 16th August 1961.The Wine Festival could not take place anywhere else but in Limassol as it being its natural birth place. You could say that the Limassol Development Association is the parent, everyone who has been involved in the Festival since 7th October 1961 is its family and its face and body are the people of Limassol and the visitors who come along to drink and enjoy the wine.
