A SEASIDE resort in Cyprus was once the summer playground for A-list celebs but these days is nothing more than an abandoned ghost town.
As a tourist destination, Varosha was the place to be seen between 1970 and 1974 – attracting the likes of Raquel Welch, Brigitte Bardot as well as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
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It once boasted skyscraper hotels, chic shopping areas and golden, sandy beaches which were often described as the best the island could offer.
For good reason is was said to be the “French Riviera of Cyprus”.
In its heyday it was home to around 39,000 people and would attract around 700,000 visitors and tourists.
Now, it is deserted and lies in ruins.
During Turkey’s invasion of the island in July 1974 the town was destroyed.
Greek Cypriots were targeted and ordered to leave the northern part of the Mediterranean island, where 80 per cent of them were living at the time.
The inhabitants of Varosha were forced to fee, fearing they could be massacred by the invading Turks.
Troops then fenced off the area, preventing anyone from getting in and signs warned that it was a “forbidden zone”.
Tourists were banned from entering and taking pictures inside the fenced off area but some managed to sneak in to document the decay.
These days the crumbling buildings and rubble in the streets only hint at the town’s former glory days.
In 1984, a UN resolution called for the area to be put under UN control, allowing former Cypriots who had been forced out to resettle there.
According to Atlas Obscura, much of the resort remains as its former residents and visitors left it.
Tables are set for meals and designer clothes can be seen hanging inside the now-abandoned shops.
Travel restrictions were then eased in 2003, allowing former residents to return and peer through the wire and fences.
One Cypriot who returned to look at her family’s former home told the BBC: “It felt like some post-apocalyptic nightmare.”
She said: “You’re seeing nature take over. Prickly pear bushes have overrun the entire six square kilometers.
“There are trees that have sprouted through living rooms. It’s a ghost town.”
By 2011, only 226 people lived there.
The authorities have since partially reopened the area and in 2020 around 500,000 tourists visited.
However, its reopening has stirred up controversy between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to reopen the resort but this has been met with resistance from the Greek Cypriots.
When the resort was partially reopened, only Turkish citizens were allowed to visit.
The European Union warned at the time that the reopening would “cause great tensions” between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots as they argued over who should be able to inhabit and profit from the northern section of the island.
The UN security council has been asked to step in to resolve the situation but until it does the town remains largely abandoned and decaying.
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