Just back from Kyrenia, N.Cyprus where I stayed at the 4 Star Pia Bella Hotel. Fifi in a 4star I hear you say!! Yes but it had excellent disabled facilities. They had a huge room with plenty of room to manoeuvre and a disabled wet room. On top of that, although the decor was plain, it was really clean, the staff were extremely helpful and always concerned about my well being AND there was a chair to get me in the pool. Something even the 5star resorts I normally go to such as the Kratos and Savoy, don’t have. They do have excellent disabled rooms but are twice the price (£120 vs £48 per night).
I can’t recommend Kyrenia enough as it’s very friendly although tough to get around but the harbour is accessible once you get there. Disabled toilets do exist but you have to hunt them out so I suggest you look out for the larger hotels who are equipped. The harbour dates back to the 10th century BC and was a strategic port in in the Mediterranean, hence the castle at it’s entrance. Bellapais is really interesting to visit and is in the hills above Kyrenia. It was home to Lawrence Durrell, who wrote about life in Cyprus in his book Bitter Lemons. He mentions passing the time drinking coffee under the Tree of Idleness in the village and there are two places which lay claim to being that spot. There is a beautiful restaurant there that overlooks Kyrenia – Kybele – it’ in the grounds of the Monastery and is full of cobbled walk ways but worth a visit for the view.
An adventurous holiday if you’re disabled but the Turkish Cypriots are always eager to help. BTW Tracey Emin is known to visit there, as her father is Turkish Cypriot, and has been spotted in the supermarkets.
In our attempts to get venues to adopt our PAD’s (Pictorial Access Descriptions) I wrote a piece for Hospitality Today & it’s been published!! We will get every venue to adopt a PAD!!
To kill the holiday blues on my return I went to the new hip joint about town (London that is). Shrimpy’s is located in an old filling station I used to stop at for a loo break when journeying north in the bad old days as a sales exec. It’s behind kings Cross and faces the canal. It was full of ‘right on’ trendies and every man seemd to have a satchel. However, it’s refreshingly disabled friendly for a hip joint. Outside is an open grill and space to drink – undercover if it rains. Entry to the diner is up a small ramp with 2 tiny lips to trip you up if you dont know they’re there (you do now!). Not a lot of room inside to get to the disabled loo so sit at table 13 or be prepared to access it by going outside and round to the back entrance. The food is ok – softshell crab burger v. tasty – but ambience is what you go for. It’s not overly expensive but I didn’t pay, my friend offered as he hadn’t seen me for so long and I clearly looked poor after my holiday. Worth a visit but book as it’s really busy. Owned by the the same people as Bistrotheque they get 2.5 BBS Ticks nearly 3.
Well back to reality until I go to Ibiza in September – I’m a dance fan at heart – If anyone has any knowledge of how disabled friendly it is let me know!!