The abandoned seaside town once loved by celebrities that's now a haven for dark tourism

A once-great Mediterranean destination for Hollywood elites is now an abandoned seaside town frozen in time and cordoned off by the military. Varosha, the southern quarter of the city of Famagusta, was once frequented by icons such as Elizabeth Taylor and superstars of the 1960s until the Turkish army invaded Northern Cyprus on July 20, 1974, changing everything.

In the years that followed, 180,000 Greek Cypriots fled the northern third of the island with Varosha's 15,000 residents among them. The speed with which they fled saw house and personal items abandoned, leaving the town frozen in time. Hubert Faustmann, a professor of history and international relations at the University of Nicosia believes that the town is now used as a bargaining chip between the Turkish and Greek governments who sit either side of a demarcation line.

He told Express.co.uk: "Varosha was intended from the beginning as a bargaining chip.

"It was actually offered three times during the negotiations by the Turkish Cypriot side for various concessions, the most common being that they wanted the opening of the Famagusta port, but also of the Ercan airport for international traffic."

Nowadays, the neighbourhood remains untouched, with the only changes coming with the passing of time as plants and weeds grow freely amongst the pavements.

In recent years, the town has become popular with "dark tourists", those looking to experience places historically associated with death and tragedy.

The decision in 2020 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in agreement with the then prime minister of Northern Cyprus, Ersin Tatar, saw the area once more thrive with tourists looking for something different to those who flocked there in the 1960s.

Faustmann believes that despite its newfound status as a dark tourism attraction, the area is not returning to what it once was.

He added: "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."

Construction workers have been tidying up the area ahead of the arrival of tourists by laying cement, removing debris and roping off edifices sealed from public view, while mobile canteens and tables, umbrellas and chairs have popped up to provide service to visitors.

But these works would not be enough to allow a full-scale reopening of the quarter not just to tourists but also to residents, Professor Faustmann noted.