.jpg)
Having just returned from my holiday in the UK and being lucky enough to have obtained tickets for the London Olympics as well as visiting the Eden Project in Cornwall, I now feel revitalised and all set to resume work. It was a holiday with a touch of green…
Although I didn’t go off on a far-flung conservation break on this occasion, I always make a point of ticking off as many green boxes as possible where holidays are concerned and this time, I fared quite well!
As usual, it was interesting to observe how green the places I had visited were and there were some pleasant surprises. The London Olympics I will mention first because the whole experience was so breathtaking and memorable as well as being my first Olympics ever. But how green was the Olympics?
The organisers of the London 2012 Olympic games set out to make it the greenest games of modern times. From cutting edge green technology and waste management to sustainable design and transport, the full details are available to read on the following site which illustrates the lengths they went to to ensure the greenest event possible
From a visitor’s perspective, and having seen the end result of these efforts, I have to say that I was very impressed. The whole set up was amazing, the organisation both outside and within the venues was excellent and it all seemed to flow seemingly without effort. Additionally, the venues were all spotless in every way. Clearly a lot of care had been taken to ensure that every visitor was left with a positive impression of the event. It was great to see countless rubbish bins all within a few metres of reach wherever you were located – not just for general waste but proper recycling bins for plastics and cans too.
At the time of writing the games are still taking place but I believe it has been one of the best games of modern times and the fact that the organisers took the green aspect seriously certainly contributed, in my opinion, to its overall success.
I also spent some time in North Cornwall, a very beautiful part of the UK and stayed in a lovely fishing village called Padstow who some of you may be familiar with, not least because of all the famous Rick Stein eateries! Having sampled one the best cream teas ever and heaps of Roskilly’s organic ice-cream, it was time for something more of an educational nature so I headed off to the Eden Project, a top conservation attraction located close by.
The Eden Project offers a lot more than just a memorable day out in Cornwall. It is also a charity and social enterprise. As well as creating stunning gardens and laying on fantastic arts and music events, they also run transformational social and environmental projects in the UK and around the world. The Eden project also carries out valuable research into plants and conservation andyou can see lots of medicinal plants being grown as well as more exotic plants, trees and flowers within the Rainforest andMediterranean biomes (domes). An enjoyable and eye-opening day out, I found the Eden Project to be a great learning experience for children and adults alike – and it goes without saying that they run their operations in the greenest possible way. The visitor restaurants were also, not surprisingly, excellent with healthy fresh food and salads on offer, much of which was organic or fair trade. And to finish off the visit, there was wonderful souvenir shop selling all kinds of ethical and organic products. Green heaven it was and I was delighted to come home with, amongst other things, handbags and bracelets made from coconuts! Check out the site here for more information.
As my holiday concluded, I am pleased to say that there were many green aspects to my break and there is definitely a feelgood factor associated with being involved one way or another, whether it’s a visit to a green project like Eden or an organic eaterie as one of my good friends would agree…
Although I have yet to visit Iceland, the greenest country in the world, my friend who is currently holidaying there (the perfect antedote to the Cyprus heat, for sure!) knowing about my passion for all things green and organic, enthusiastically texted me to tell me that she had just been to an organic fish and chip shop that cooked its fish in organic spelt batter. How innovative is that! I guess that gives us a clue as to the country’s green commitment – and my friend was utterly delighted to have foundthe shop with the healthier, greener version of fish n’ chips!
Whether you want to take a full-blown conservation holiday or just visit eco projects like I did, there’s plenty on offer if you look out for them, whatever country you are visiting. For instance, if you are thinking about staying in an organic hotel i.e. eco-hotels offering organic meals worldwide, check out .
I always like to relate what I write about to home because I still feel Cyprus lags behind Europe in terms of greenness and could benefit by doing what some of its European neighbours are doing. While Cyprus is unlikely to host an event the size of the Olympic Games, there are many good examples that could be replicated should we ever be in the position to host a similar kindof international event. We just need to commit more – remember, as I’ve written many times before; it’s important for the economy. Organisers take note! And how about our own version of the Eden Project? That would be absolutely fantastic for the island….if we could only muster up the commitment to create such a project. Just think of the positive social and economic repercussions….
And so, back to Cyprus, and in particular, back to work on Green Cyprus where I will be continuing my task of providing more green and organic information relating to Cyprus for residents and visitors alike. You can check up on our progress at www.greencyprus.com
I would like to take this opportunity to wish Green Cyprus followers a relaxing summer break and if you are planning to get away, why not inject a little green into your holiday too?
