Agia Napa

Ayia Napa is a resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus.EtymologyThe name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian-era monastery of the same name, located in the centre of the town, next to the square that today is the clubbing centre. The word "Ayia" (Agia) means "holy" in Greek. "Napa" is archaic and means "wooded valley" or dell. In ancient times the area surrounding the town was covered with thick forest.HistoryAccording to local legend, the now renowned original icon was accidentally discovered by a hunter in pursuit of his prey. Upon discovery, the icon of the Virgin Mary was called Virgin Mary of Napa, eventually shortened and now known as Ayia Napa. The present monastery, built in 1100, was built around the cave, in honour of the Virgin Mary of Ayia Napa. According to local tradition, until 1790 no one lived within close vicinity of Ayia Napa. The first inhabitants were from Thessaloniki, Greece. The name of the first inhabitant of Ayia Napa was Nikolaos Kemitzis from Thesaloniki. He arrived from Greece around 1790 and got married to a village located on the northern east part of Ayia Napa and Paralimni, the name of the village was Panayia. Soon after the marriage Kemitzis had a fight with the Ottoman authorities which ruled Cyprus at the time, and decided to move near the monastery of Ayia Napa.Today Ayia Napa is the largest tourist resort of Cyprus. With 27000 tourist bed capacity with more than 145 hotels and apartments of all sizes. The resort for 2017 is projected to welcome more than 700,000 tourist arrivals and approximately 5,000,000 night-stays. Which represent approximately 30% of all Cyprus nightstays.