The organisers of the annual tulip festival said that this year a full carpet of stunning wild tulips will be in full bloom in Polemi Village on 1st April.

The annual festival is organised by Polemi Village council.  The festival attracts hundreds of visitors every year.

The tulips, ‘Tulipa Agenensis’, are found all over the southern Mediterranean and other areas such as Israel.  The plateau between Stroumbi and Polemi is the only area on the island where the tulips grow en masse, apart from a few discovered in the Troodos a few years ago. Two other species of tulip are known in Cyprus, one found in Tymbou and a subspecies of that found in the Akamas region, but these are only in tiny numbers.

The President of the Association of Tulip Friends, Dr. Nicandrou said that during the 1960s and 1970s the plateau was full of wild tulips, but that ‘irrational’ land use and the regular use of pesticides obliterated numbers.  He said that the tulips survived against the odds and that the mesmerising blooms connect modern living to history.

The festival has been held every year since 2002 and is now popular with visitors all over the Island, as well as holidaymakers visiting the Island.