In the early 1970s, the city of Varosha (Cyprus) was a very popular tourist destination. At one time, such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Brigitte Bardot, Richard Burton and many others vacationed in this city. Today the city is abandoned. The online magazine Factinteres will tell the sad story of the city of Varosha.

Story

Until 1974, Varosha was the most popular resort town in all of Cyprus. At that time, about 39,000 people lived here. However, in 1974, a coup d’etat took place in Cyprus, the consequences of which put an end to the future of the city.

In response to the coup d'état, on July 20, 1974, the military of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) invaded Cyprus. On August 15 of the same year, the Turkish military completely captured the city of Famagusta, of which Varosha was a part.

After the air force attack, almost all the city's residents fled from the city. The remaining people fled after the advance of the Turkish army. After the capture, the city was immediately fenced off and it was simply impossible to get here.

Today, the city of Varosha remains fenced and guarded by Turkish troops. According to UN Security Council Resolution 550, only residents of that city can enter the city. However, no one wants to return home.

Dozens of hotel buildings rise on the coast of the city of Varosha. Between 1970 and 1974, the most popular hotels in the world were opened here. Nobody expected military action. One of the hotels was even open 3 days before the outbreak of hostilities. The sudden attack by the TRNC military came as a surprise to everyone.

You can still find closets with clothes and various household items in abandoned houses. There are still cars and other equipment in the garages. In one of the areas you can see a tower crane, which at one time built another large hotel.

Why won't the city be returned?

• Read also:

According to UN Security Council Resolution 550, only former residents of the city can enter the city. This resolution does not allow the TRNC authorities to populate the area, but residents of Cyprus simply cannot get here. Thus, the city was doomed to complete decay and destruction.

There is an opinion that the TRNC holds the city as a bargaining chip that can be exchanged for some concessions to Greece. In the meantime, the city is patrolled by the military and any border violations are suppressed. Some violators are shot, some are given hefty prison sentences.

What is the future of Varosha?

Many engineers agree that there is no point in rebuilding the city. It’s easier to demolish absolutely all the buildings and rebuild them. The roads in the city have become completely unusable; bushes and trees are growing everywhere. The electrical grid infrastructure is outdated, the sewage system is rotten and collapsed. Perhaps the complete demolition and reconstruction is slowing down the solution to the issue of this area.

• Read also:

The city of Varosha (Cyprus) is actually not a city, but a district of Famagusta. The city of Famagusta is now located on the territory of Northern Cyprus, an unrecognized state. Varosha is called a ghost town and it has an interesting fate. Many tourists would like to visit this territory, but for certain reasons this is impossible.

Varosha until 1974

Embankment in the city of Varosha before 1974

The history of the ghost town began in 1974, and before that time Varosha was a resort area. And not simple, but fashionable. The most modern hotels, private villas, and expensive shops were located on this territory. According to eyewitnesses, Brigitte Bardot vacationed in one of the hotels in the early 70s. The fame of the fashionable resort of Varosha was brought not only by its excellent infrastructure, but also by the peculiarity of the sand on the local beach. It is very small and pleasant to the touch. If it were not for the tragic events, Varosha beach would probably now be awarded the Blue Flag.


Villas and hotels were located closer to the beach. And then there were residential areas where local residents lived. Many of them were employed in the hotel infrastructure. And since the resort was expensive, local residents were not deprived of wages, and the entire area was considered prestigious for living. But all this prosperity came to an end in a matter of days.

Coup d'etat

In 1974, Famagusta was captured by the Turks. Not only this city came under their jurisdiction. After some time, the entire northern part of the island was Turkish. As a result, Northern Cyprus arose - a state not recognized in the world. However, this does not prevent Northern Cyprus from existing even now, after a long time. And the island has a completely calm environment for tourists. They can even visit both parts of the island - the Republic of Cyprus and the unrecognized state. True, for this you will have to cross the buffer zone according to certain rules. This order is partially (and perhaps completely) maintained thanks to the UN troops who control the buffer zone.


But let's return to the events of 1974. The Turks, having captured Famagusta, cordoned off the Varosha area and ordered residents to vacate the area within 24 hours. True, some of the residents of Varosha fled to the south of the island and to other countries a little earlier, when the bombing from the Turkish side began. However, the area quickly emptied. Many residents, almost all of them ethnic Greeks, hoped that the military conflict would soon end and they would return. Therefore, many families left lightly, leaving behind their property. But these hopes did not come true, and the Turks firmly established themselves in the northern part of Cyprus.


Perhaps at first the area was really protected, preventing looting. However, then Turkish soldiers began to take out other people's property. They were joined by the residents of Famagusta, who welcomed the new government, for the most part they were ethnic Turks. In general, after a few years the fashionable area was plundered and dilapidated. Now Varosha is controlled by the army of Northern Cyprus and UN troops. The area is fenced and guarded by soldiers.

Is it possible to see a ghost town?

Varosha in Cyprus could be an excellent attraction for tourists, like Pripyat (Chernobyl zone) or Fukushima in Japan. And even better, because there is no radiation danger in Varosha. Abandoned urban landscapes are popular with many tourists. But you cannot officially enter the area itself; it is guarded. On the fence separating other areas of Famagusta from Varosha, there are warning signs about the restricted area.

However, photos of the ghost town of Varosha appear from time to time in the media and on the Internet. It is visited by:

• journalists (the authorities rarely allow them into the territory and even less often allow them to take photographs),
• stalkers (illegal visitors who find loopholes in the fence, or (according to some sources) managed to bribe the guards).

We strongly advise against trying to enter the territory of Varosha, since the soldiers of the Turkish army are armed and have the right to use weapons. You can't even take pictures of him standing behind the fence. But you can take pictures from the coast, where access is open. Even from there, abandoned high-rise buildings with empty window sockets make an eerie impression.

Perhaps someday the authorities of Northern Cyprus will understand what benefits can be derived from tourists visiting a ghost town. And they organize excursions there. In the meantime, you can look at it from afar or in photos taken by the lucky ones who visited Varosha.

Varosha is a district of the city of Famagusta. In the sixties and seventies it was the most popular resort in Cyprus and one of the most popular holiday destinations in the entire Mediterranean. The 4-kilometer-long beach was built up with brand new hotels, the most luxurious and modern at that time. There were nightclubs, shops, markets, expensive private villas.

But the year 1974 came, a military coup took place in Cyprus, carried out by Greek nationalists dreaming of reunification with the metropolis, in response to which the Turkish army landed on the island and occupied its northeastern part. In particular, Varosha came under Turkish occupation. The Greek population left the area in a hurry, leaving inside things, furniture, everything they had acquired through back-breaking labor. Then it seemed to them that they would return here in a few days. But 37 years have passed, and the city remains empty.

The Turkish army cordoned it off, surrounded it with a fence and installed observation points along the perimeter. In addition, there are UN posts inside. In general, hundreds of people, for some unknown reason, are guarding an absolutely empty city.

Recently, plans have emerged to transfer Varosha to the Greek side to revive a world-class resort here, with the condition that the majority of jobs there will go to Turkish Cypriots. However, for now these are just plans, and it is unknown when their implementation will begin.
And now there is one hotel operating inside this area. It houses a rest home for officers of the Turkish army.

There are stories on the Internet that life in Varosha froze in 1974, that in hotel rooms and private houses there there is still furniture, shops are full of goods, and on the tables there are plates of food left by Greeks fleeing in panic during war.
But this is all completely untrue. Or rather, all this was true, but in 1977, 3 years after the Turkish invasion, when the Swedish journalist Jan Olaf Bengtson visited Varosha, the words from whose article are still quoted on many websites and in many reports.
But for more than thirty years everything has changed a lot. Now Varosha is completely deserted. Everything that could be taken out of there was taken out. Moreover, both the Turkish military and the former Greek population of the area (few people know, but former residents are allowed to visit inside from time to time).

It must be said that the ghost town of Varosha is not limited to a fence with warning signs on it. Houses abandoned in 1974 are discovered even on the approach to it; they surround the area, like satellites surround the planet. Moreover, it is completely unclear why one house is abandoned and the other is not. It’s not just a matter of property rights (the Turkish population carried out many squatters of residential and administrative buildings in 1974).

Detached abandoned office building

Most of the surroundings of Varosha look very unpresentable. However, it also happens the other way around. For example, we came to the fence of this area along a busy city street with administrative and office buildings on it. We walked and walked and suddenly noticed that behind the roundabout ahead we could already see houses with empty windows and a fence.

And this is not easy to do! The fence is very winding. Sometimes it goes around buildings and entire blocks of residential buildings, sinking its teeth into the body of a dead city.
Since 1974, two generations of people have grown up here for whom this state of affairs is commonplace, who are accustomed to not looking at the other side of the fence at all, ignoring the existence of the dead Siamese twin of their native Famagusta. Therefore, our appearance on these not at all tourist streets is of interest. True, silent. People stealthily stare in our direction, trying not to reveal their curiosity, and shrug their shoulders, completely not understanding what we forgot here.

I have already said: everything that could be taken out of the region was taken out. But the same cannot be said about the surrounding areas. Here the streets are full of half-rotten cars that last moved in the notorious year 1974. And in one of the alleys we were lucky enough to find several boxes with empty bottles of foreign soda, standing in place for 37 years.

Some collectors would bite their own hands off for this treasure, but here no one cares about them. The bottles had long since filled with rainwater. And some drinks, the labels of which are pasted on the container, no longer exist at all!

What a flimsy fence. – Storm tells me. - You can safely jump over.

But there was no need to jump. In one of the dead ends, near some warehouses, I find a decent-sized gap between the fence bars.
- Let's climb! – I offer it to Storm and Fomka, but for some reason they refuse.
OK! I take off my bag and climb into the gap myself.
From this gap, a barely noticeable path goes deeper into the block.
In general, there are several photos and video reports on the Internet from stalkers who managed to walk along the streets of Varosha. Apparently, I discovered just one of the entrances inside that they use.
I’m afraid to go further on my own, I don’t know the rules of conduct here, or the safe paths, I don’t know anything at all. So I take a photo as a souvenir and return to the mainland.

Mission accomplished! I was in Varosha!

For a note. Fortunately, I did not dare to go further. Upon arrival, I found the place of my penetration into Varosha on Google Earth and discovered that a hundred meters from “my” hole in the fence was the main entrance to this ghost town. And there are armed soldiers. I wish I could run into them! It would be funny...

In about ten minutes we will go out along the city street just in time for this post. I will go straight to the dugouts with soldiers armed with machine guns, we will make eye contact, I will look for a minute at the street, blocked by a barrier, going into the area, then I will turn around and walk further along the fence.

In another five minutes we will reach the central stadium of Famagusta, located at the very outskirts of the dead city.

The cathedral in the background, despite its good appearance, is already located in a fenced area

We pass through the stadium and find ourselves in line of sight from the famous Palm Beach. From here you can already see three high-rise buildings near the seashore, which were once hotels, and are now the “calling card” of Varosha. Their image is reproduced in all articles dedicated to this amazing place.

The Palm Beach Hotel itself is currently under renovation. However, the beach at its foot is quite accessible to visitors. There are modern sunbeds, showers, changing rooms, and a cafe. And all this is right next to the fence, behind which there are empty hotels.

But first we go not to the beach itself, but to an old dilapidated pier protruding from it into the sea.
There are already about a dozen people on the pier. Mainly locals. They all take pictures against the backdrop of the sea. We don’t give a damn about the sea for now. We take pictures against the backdrop of abandoned hotels lined up along the shore receding into the distance.

Wow! – Storm says, seeing the panorama that opened from the pier. All he knew about Varosha was that this area existed. And our walks along the fence with one- and two-story houses on the other side did not inspire him much. And here is such a spectacle!

We go down from the pier to the beach. It's time to swim in the sea again. Moreover, there is such beauty around!

On the beach, I can hear Russian speech out of the corner of my ear. Judging by the accent, Moscow. I approach them, say hello, and ask if they paid for the sunbed, and, if so, how much.
- Two euros. - Muscovites answer. It is now clear how much money is used to support the infrastructure on the beach.
No! No sunbeds! Let's settle down on the sand.
Oh, what sand there is! Small, clean, pleasant to the touch. Now it’s clear why this resort was so popular in its time. With such wonderful sand! I read on the Internet that the sand here is one of the best on the entire Mediterranean coast.

After swimming, I walk along the shore all the way to the fence that blocks the beach perpendicular to the water and separates the living city from the dead. Above this fence rises a guard post of the Turkish army.

I look at the destroyed buildings on the other side of the fence, the washed-out beach and shore, and glance at the booth, wondering if anyone is watching me now. It seems like no one.
But this serene silence stops when two Czech guys approach the fence and try to take a couple of pictures.
- Don't take pictures! – A man in military uniform suddenly appeared in the window of the observation post shouts. The Czechs dismount and quickly leave.
- Why not take pictures? - I'm interfering. – The Internet is full of photographs of Varosha.
- Then why do you need another one? – The soldier calmly counters me.

I'm going back to my friends. We bask in the rays of the setting sun for some time, take pictures against the backdrop of dead hotel buildings, then get ready and go see the Old Town of Famagusta while it is still light. Yesterday we failed to do this!

Compare: this is 1974.

And this is 2007.

The difference is immediately visible: people have disappeared, mood has disappeared, the joy of life has disappeared. Because life is gone too. This - . Or rather, the once resort suburb of Famagusta - Varosha, surrounded on all sides by kilometers of barbed wire and chain-link mesh.

In the early 1970s, Famagusta, a city on the eastern coast of Cyprus, famous for its ancient monuments and sunny weather, was for beachgoers from all over the world what Turkish Antalya or Egyptian Hurghada are now for “Russian tourists”. Rich stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot loved to warm up and swim here. Inspired by the influx of “money bags,” Cypriots began to build dozens of modern high-rise buildings, mostly five-star hotels, on the outskirts of Famagusta, in the Varosha quarter. The fashionable suites in them were booked by the British 20 years in advance! The resort was being developed and by 1974 it had reached the peak of popularity. That same year, Turkish army units landed on the island with NATO's blessing to protect the Turkish minority from persecution by a military junta led by ethnic Greeks. Famagusta also fell into the occupation zone (37% of the territory of Cyprus). The city was divided into Greek and Turkish parts, and Varosha became a neutral zone, which it was decided to surround with a fence and protect from all living things.

Varosha was resettled military-style, without ceremony. Linen and beach towels were left to dry on lines, and empty restaurants glowed with thousands of watts until the light bulbs burned out. They say that in local stores there are still untried outfits from 1974 fashion. Leaving half-eaten breakfasts and turned on TVs, 16 thousand local Greeks naively believed in a quick return. But for 35 years now, entry here has been allowed only to UN representatives and Turkish troops, who patrol the area in a jeep from morning to evening, every half hour. In addition, there is a small Turkish military base in the area where patrol officers sleep and eat.

In the days of the death of Varosha, it was heavily plundered by marauders, primarily Turkish soldiers. They say that a lot of local goods were subsequently sold... on the Istanbul market. Over the years, the abandoned city has been visited by many simple stalkers who take curious tourists to the zone for money. The skeletons of luxurious villas and a modest Greek temple are waist-deep overgrown with thistle and cacti, between which stray cats scurry and catch rats. Graffiti periodically appears on hotel walls. You can’t take pictures of Varosha, but many people do it secretly, and no one has been shot yet.

In some places it’s quite easy to get over the fence, and even in fashionable places you can freely walk, lie on a trestle bed with a bottle of beer, and even touch crumbling or unfinished hotels with your hand. By the way, garbage is removed from the golden sand beach every day.

Today, the dead stones of Varosha are stumbling blocks in relations between Greeks and Turkish Cypriots. The city is put “at stake” from year to year, but the conflicting parties each time do not find the strength to come to an agreement - for purely “selfish” economic reasons. The Greek community believes that the ghost resort is too little in response to the lifting of the embargo on the northern territories of Cyprus. The Turks are afraid that if they give up Varosha, they will receive nothing in return.

Several years ago, Cypriot authorities estimated that the restoration of Varosha could cost 10 billion euros. Experts believe that the simplest and most reasonable thing would be to demolish the ghost town completely and build a new fairy tale city in its place, running the time machine back: from the past to the future...