Hello! Today, we got up nice and early to get onto the bus to head to Famagusta—the once booming beach city. The ride was about 90 minutes to get there, so we heard a lot about the city on the way there by our lovely tour guide, Georgia. She explained to us how she had lived in this city up until its evacuation in 1974, an expulsion caused by the Turks’ military takeover of the norther third of the island. The old city, whose original Frankish walls were not upgraded by the Venetians (unlike in Nicosia), had become an entirely Turkish neighborhood of the city. As a result, when the Greek Cypriots evacuated the rest of the city, large sectors, such as Varosi, became a ghost town. Only the Turkish neighborhoods, like the old city, are currently occupied by residents today, due to the city now remaining in the occupied territory of Northern Cyprus.
Walking around the ghost town of Varosi was a breathtaking experience. It is so hard to describe how desolate of a feeling you’re left with when walking through the streets of a completely empty, urban destination that used to be crawling with Cypriots and tourists alike. It was even more visceral to hear Georgia explain all the destinations that she used to visit when she was younger, including the job she worked at while taking classes. One interesting story she told us while on our tour had to do with a particular shop that we saw that was selling furs. She told us how this man from Europe came to Famagusta to sell furs and was about to marry his pregnant, Cypriot partner. However, right before, she found out that the entire time, he was a Turkish spy. I guess I learned to never buy furs in Cyprus, a hot country that doesn’t have a market for warm materials.