Evas Tourist Apartments
P.O. Box 66258
Polis 8831,
Cyprus
Tel:
++ 357 26321881
++ 357 99647669
C and A Tourist Apartments in Polis boast the first ever tourist accommodation in Cyprus designed to cater for less able-bodied folk. Chris Neophytou, along with his mother and father, has worked hard to convert this quiet residential property into a first class holiday centre for those with a disability.
The very first thing Chris wanted to stress was that this was not a grim form of medical parking place for the handicapped. He didn’t need to say this: it’s clear from the whoops and shrieks that emanate from the swimming pool that C and A Apartments are anything but grim; they do not emit a single sniff of institutional living. Here, both able bodied and those with differing levels of disabilities can get together to enjoy a super holiday. The only immediate difference you spot is the hoist beside the swimming pool to allow to those who need it safe access to the pool. All the rooms are large and airy with plenty of space for a swift wheelie in the bedroom. There’s a small kitchen area, again with room for a wheelchair to roll into a recess beside the sink, so there’s no excuse for not washing the supper dishes.
Each bathroom is completely kitted out to give that all essential level of independence to those unable to cope with the physical demands of showering and the like. They come fully equipped with rails, special shower seats, and there is a roll in roll out shower stall for wheelchair users.
Chris says these are just some of the changes
that have been made to make holidaying here for wheelchair bound tourists
both safe and pleasant.
“There are raised sun-beds, so one can with ease get from a wheelchair onto
the bed without dropping down that fearful few centimetres and run the risk
of falling. The nine studio bedrooms plus one large three-bedroom apartment,
which sleeps six, all have this facility. Then we have wheelchair access
ramps all around the complex.
“We also have a specially adapted minibus so we can collect our guests from the airport. We can also use this for special day trips to places of interest all over the island.”
Chris then showed me the guest book full of
praise on everything from the friendliness of the staff, right down to one
German guest who wrote that he had “experienced the swiftest repair job
ever” when both wheels on his chair broke. Chris was able to have this
mended within 10 minutes.
“That’s vitally important for
all wheelchair users,” he explained. “If your chair is out of action even
for a short time then you lose that all-essential bit of independence. We
also rent wheelchairs, and power scooters, as well as other equipment needed
by our guests, so they don’t have to worry about bringing all the
paraphernalia with them in order to make their stay comfortable. We have
everything they will need here in our store room, and if we haven’t, we can
certainly get it for them.”
The reason C and A Apartments are so successful is because they have been
designed by Chris, himself a wheelchair user.
He explains the philosophy behind the project. “Regardless of whether you
are disabled, you still need a holiday away from your usual surroundings,
and to be honest so do your carers, so finding a place that caters for the
special needs of the disabled and able bodied together is almost impossible
here in Cyprus. OK they may have the odd ramp or a guard rail in the toilet,
but the majority of holiday complexes are designed solely with the able
bodied in mind.
“Here, I can swim every day, getting in and out of the pool with only a
little bit of help. Seeing the pleasure on some kids’ faces when they are in
the pool for the first time is tremendous.”
Chris says there soon develops a special bonding between able-bodied and
disabled guests.
“Everyone gets on really well, our able-bodied guests make friends with
those less able, and often this friendly mixing of different abilities goes
a long way to making people more relaxed about life. They seem to relish
their holiday even more. It’s always a question of ‘There but for the grace
of God go I’ and it’s especially true when we enjoy the company of the many
young people who come here who have been permanently damaged through some
form of accident.
“We also have a huge range of age groups and from all over the world. Last
year we even had a chap from Alaska who came with his Peruvian wife for two
weeks holiday, but in the main we cater to the English, and my mother makes
a real English breakfast spread every morning. Eggs, bacon the whole works.
Recently, more and more, we are welcoming guests from Germany and Holland,
and they also love the breakfasts. Even nicer are the repeat customers. Now
that’s the solid proof of any success story, no matter what official star
rating an establishment may have.”
Chris has also been instrumental in pushing Polis municipality to lay down
special duck-boarding on the beach so that wheel chair users gain easy
access to the sea. These were put in place this season. He has also
persuaded some restaurants in the area to raise their table heights to
accommodate wheelchair patrons, and one of his friends who runs excursions
around the Akamas bay area has now fitted a special hoist so wheel chair
users can also enjoy a boat trip. There’s even para-sailing on offer to the
guests and Chris proudly boasts that he was one of the first to give this
rather overly exhilarating activity a try.
“Well, I may be permanently contained in this wheel chair but I still want
to soar like a bird, that’s why I so love para-sailing.”
C&A Tourist Apartments, Polis. 26-321881, 99-647669, fax 26-321881,
www.ca-touristapts.com or
www.evas-apartments.com