Varosha Ghost Town
Back in the late 1960’s early 1970’s Ammochostos, known locally as Famagusta, was the number one tourist destination in Cyprus with Varosha being the modern tourist area in the Famagusta region.
Between 1970 and 1974 Varosha was not only the top Tourist destination in Cyprus but also one of the top holiday resorts in the world with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Brigette Bardot coming to spend their time on the beautiful sandy Beaches.
To cater for the increasing number of tourists coming to the area many new high rise buildings and hotels were being constructed which you can see here today. Sadly in August 1974 a Greek Military Coup, which aimed to unite the island with mainland Greece, led to an invasion by the Turkish army resulting in the division of the island with the northern half of the island being occupied by the Turkish and the Southern part occupied by The Greek Cypriots.
From that day Varosha was turned into a ghost town, as its 40,000 inhabitants were forced to flee and to this day have still not been allowed to return to their homes.
For over half a century this is how it has remained with Houses and Hotels still remaining empty, and the area where 40,000 people worked, studied and called home is still unoccupied hence its name the Ghost Town.
Back in 2020 the dividing line between Northern and Southern Cyprus opened up its border to allow the public to enter Varosha so you are now able to take a walk along the sandy beach, and the once bustling resort to see for yourself the devastating effect this war had on a once beautiful area that has been sadly stuck in time for over 50 years.
