NiallOK’s Blog

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Last week, during a much-needed holiday to Cyprus, I (along with my fiancèe) rented a car in order to tour the island, get off the "beaten track", as it were, and see the "real Cyprus". We saw it. As promised, now I "explain all"… sort-of…

After briefly getting lost in Nicosia/Lefkosia while looking for the Turkish baths, we set out from our base in Protaras and headed north for the border - and the ghost town of Famagusta.

Since 1974, the northern third or so of the island of Cyprus has been under the control of the Turkish Military. This includes a portion of Nicosia/Lefkosia (when we were there, we saw the border patrol and could see the stark difference between the Greek and the Turkish sides of the city - one side bustling and modern, the other quieter and delapidated), the historic northern tourist town of Kyrenia and Famagusta itself - once Cyprus’ biggest tourist destination and port - now quite literally a shell of its former self.

The tourist area of Famagusta, Varosha, was sealed off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and remains in that state today. The Greek Cypriots who had fled from Varosha were never allowed to return and so it has been frozen in time with department stores still full of clothes, now many years out of fashion, hotels empty but still fully equipped, un-maintained roads cracking under the sun’s heat, and buildings becoming overgrown with creeping plant-life. Looking at it from a viewing tower, which was next to a Cypriot Army base (near the UN base in the Green Line, just north of Paralimni), it looked like something out of a movie - a badly beaten abandoned city which nature was in the midst of reclaiming as its own.

When we crossed the border (which was daunting enough in itself), we headed in to the town of Famagusta itself (or "Gazi Maguza" as it’s called in Turkish) and straight away noticed the massive difference in the state of the roads, the buildings and the general quality of life between the southern Greek-Cypriot controlled area and this northern Turkish Military controlled region. The people there seemed to be living in poverty - the area, called the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" has no trade whatsoever - apart from with Turkey themselves, as no other country in the world recognises it as a legitimate state.

We saw a lot of these signs (with an image of a soldier bearing a rifle and the words "Forbidden Zone" in four languages), and we took that to mean exactly what it appeared to - "do not enter - you will be shot at". In fact, we drove alongside a whole area of the in-land outskirts of the Varosha area and were shocked and awed at what we saw.

This is the kind of thing I like to do on holidays. That night, after our travels, my fiancèe told her mother on the phone that we were in a "war zone" - and while that wasn’t strictly true, it kinda felt like it, driving around some parts of Famagusta - particularly on the controlled road we ended up on which headed towards the closed off Varosha district (the "ghost town" and the coast. It was a long straight road with fencing along one side (with the Forbidden Zone sign posted every so often along the fencing) - the outskirts of the old city on the other side of the fencing - all delapidated, overgrown and abandoned, and a sign at the beginning that said something along the lines of "Controlled Road. Do not stop on this road. Do not leave this road. Drive on to end.". When we got to the end of it (marked by an "End of Controlled Road" sign) we saw soldiers with automatic weapons ahead at a checkpoint which clearly led into the forbidden area of the city, - and as we weren’t members of the Turkish Armed Forces or the UN Peacekeeping Forces, I found my next opportunity to turn around and get the heck out of there!

Back away from Varosha district were churches which had been converted to mosques and various historical monuments which had been desecrated. Stopping for lunch near the port area of the town, we noticed that the decor itself was strongly Turkish and the waiters were fiercely chauvanistic and particularly ignorant towards my fiancèe. The food was basic - however, that’s probably because we weren’t being too adventurous that day, opting, as I remember, for chicken, a burger and some salad. Paying with Cypriot pounds and not Turkish lira met with a slightly icy attitude, but was okay…

After Famagusta, we headed further north until we’d just about enough petrol to get back to Protaras. This took us to Bogaz (if you do a google search for "Bogaz" , you’ll find a lot of property for sale there, which - it could be argued, since the invasion, is not theirs to sell…), where we climbed this hill…

…and looked at the sea for a bit…

…before hopping back into the car and going "home" to Protaras.

Cyprus is a fine country, and one I could easily retire to when I’m old enough to do so. They drive on the same side of the road, the layout of the roads, the roundabouts, the road signs, etc. is all very familiar, they use the same power voltage and sockets, English is widely spoken, the health service there is excellent and they have over 300 days of hot sunshine per year. I could live with that. It’s just a pity it’s more recent and current history is tarnished with this invasion and all that’s gone on since it. To this day, they’re still trying to find a solution to the "Cyprus problem" - and while it really is a different animal altogether, it’s not hard to draw some (minor) comparisons with the troubles here in Ireland and the peace process.

I’d encourage anyone to holiday in (southern) Cyprus - particularly around Ayia Napa or Protaras - but not in the Windmills Hotel/Apartments resort itself. Read the reviews if you want - or just take it from me, this place provides sub-standard out of date accommodation, bland food and utterly woeful entertainment.

The English seemed to lap it up however.

[EDIT]: You can read more about Varosha, Famagusta, and the division of Cyprus in this excellent article by Michael Totten and see some more pictures at the author’s web site.