Can you imagine an island in Europe with more cats residents than humans? 
Cat lovers unite! Today I would like to introduce you Cyprus!  

1.5 million of cats versus 1.2 million of people! 

According to the latest data of animal welfare organisations working in Cyprus, there are significantly more feline residents than people…  

As soon as you set your foot in Cyprus – doesn’t matter if you arrive by airplane or ship – maybe you trip over one stray catCats seem to just pop out of nowhere and be everywhere and indeed many parts of the island are practically run with feral kitties.  

When you relax with a Cypriot coffee or maybe a glass of Commandarìa (one of the oldest and traditional wine in Cyprus – it was first known to be described in 800 BC by the Greek poet Hesiod), you will be surround by cats love (or food) needy. Some pubs/bars have chairs where cats sleep comfortably and act like owners. Walking around, if you look inside the artisan shops, you can glimpse a cat’s tail or maybe a snout that observe you! 

 

But why there are so many cats?  

According to Byzantine legend, in the 4th century A.D., hundreds of cats were shipped from Egypt or Palestine to Cyprus to restrain the rising of venomous snakes that had infested the area around the monastery named Saint Nicholas, today knows as Saint Nicolas of the Cats (in Greek:  Άγιος Νικόλαος των Γατών) 

The fact is that thanks the discovery of a cat skeleton in a 9.500-years-old grave in Cyprus, we have the oldest relationship between humans and domestic cats. The finding shows that cats used to live close to humans and these relations started 4.000 years (or maybe more) before the Egyptian depictions.