Varosha Beach Resort

Back in the 70s, the island of Cyprus was home to a beach resort that was renowned world-wide.  Famous movie stars and royalty used to make their way to the island to spend their vacations and the Varosha Beach Resort gained the reputation of being one of the best resorts in the world.  Now, a war has changed all this, leaving the resort fenced off and unreachable, an abandoned husk that is still filled with the remnants of that bygone age.

Varosha is one quarter of the resort city of Famagusta.  Once one of the most popular destinations in the world, a Turkish invasion of the island threw a wrench into the works.  Once the conflict was settled, a buffer zone was established by the UN and Varosha fell within that buffer zone.  Since 1974, regular folks can no longer reach this place of former glory, unless you happen to be a journalist or have some connections to the Turkish government.

The site itself still remains much as it was during 1974.  Due to the rapid pace of the war, Varosha was evacuated quickly.  Thus, shops are still filled with their wares and cars still linger in garages and on the streets.  For all intents, it looks as if it were evacuated with no effort to clean it up.

There are remains of formerly great hotels, along with all the things that one might expect of a high-class resort.  Nature, however, is taking its toll and many of these buildings are either rusting, crumbling, being overgrown with vegetation or all three.

Varosha is a site that not even the most adventurous urban explorer should take the chance to wander.  Since it is sealed off as a military act, jumping the fence could have serious repercussions.  Still, you can enjoy it in pictures as this site, which contains an amazing gallery dedicated to this crumbling ruin of men.

Varosha 1 courtesy of Julienbzh35 via Wikicommons

Varosha 2 courtesy of Julienbzh35 via Wikicommons