A luxury holiday resort loved by Hollywood stars and which included the world’s first seven-star hotel is now a derelict wasteland having been eerily deserted for over half a century.
Varosha in Cyprus was known as one of Europe’s most sophisticated destinations, being frequented by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor. It included the Golden Sands hotel, which was a byword for luxury and was so vast it boasted its own mini railway to ferry guests around.
But the fate of Varosha changed forever when on July 20, 1974, the Turkish army invaded the northern part of Cyprus in response to an attempted coup sponsored by the Greek junta five days earlier.
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The military invasion led to the exodus of 180,000 Greek Cypriots from the northern third of Cyprus, including 15,000 residents of Varosha who were forced to abandon their belongings and properties. Since then, Varosha has remained a ghost town, frozen in time and cordoned off by the military, the Mirror reports.
Chilling images now reveal the once stunning seaside resort left to decay, with its buildings crumbling into disrepair. The once bustling streets have been devoid of life for decades, with forgotten churches, vacant shops and the sea washing up on abandoned shores.
An old school and a Toyota dealership are decaying, while several former hotel tower blocks stand empty – a stark reminder of the area’s past as a popular beach resort. At its zenith, Varosha could accommodate around 10,000 tourists and had a population of approximately 25,000 people in 1973. The Golden Sands opened in 1974 on the south side of Varosha/Maras
The ruins can be seen from a specially erected viewpoint in Famagusta close to the border. French photographer Dimitri Bourriau, who has a knack for immortalising the eerie allure of derelict structures, ventured into the forsaken resort.
Speaking to MailOnline, he said: “Nothing could stop nature from reclaiming its rights over the area’s various buildings. The vegetation has spread most rampantly in the northern quarter“.
In a bold move, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ersin Tatar, then prime minister of Northern Cyprus, an entity only acknowledged by Ankara, decided to throw open the doors of the area to tourists in October 2020.
Official stats have since claimed the abandoned town has lured over 1.8 million sightseers in the last four years, clinching a top spot in the league of dark tourism hotspots.
Hubert Faustmann, a history and international relations professor at the University of Nicosia, previously said: “The section found itself in the top tourist sites in terms of dark tourism, so they started to open up certain parts of Varosha, and it’s now a tourist destination with guided tours, with e-bikes, vehicles and coffee shops.”
“Varosha is being used as a tourist destination, as a tourist attraction, without a single inhabitant prior to 1974 returning. It’s changed in the sense that it’s open to the public, but it’s not open for return.”
Travel restrictions in the area were relaxed back in 2003, allowing former residents to glimpse into the abandoned resort – but they weren’t allowed to reclaim their homes.
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