# The Green Line, UN Buffer Zone, Cyprus



## bartje (Oct 15, 2010)

Since 1974 there a big part of Cyprus became abandoned after creating a cease-fire line between Cyprus and the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

36 years of decay. Abandoned houses, hotels, shops and even cardealer. 
That means: several 'new' cars with only 37 driven miles, 
vintage advertising in the streets and much much more!

These photographs were made by my brother Bo de Visser, he was one of the few photographers who was able to explore this place.

www.urban-travel.org/greenline

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## ThenewMendoza (Oct 16, 2010)

Excellent. I haven't seen many pictures from here before, just heard the rumours...

M


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## Scaramanger (Oct 16, 2010)

Wow. thats crazy.

Somebody somewhere had to pay for all those cars. Bet they were gutted


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## Priority 7 (Oct 16, 2010)

seriously jealous, I am guessing he managed to organise a visit to the area...


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## mr_bones (Oct 16, 2010)

This is incredible Bartje, I have never seen such good photos of this place until now. Thanks to your brother for taking them and thankyou for sharing them.


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## evilnoodle (Oct 16, 2010)

This is amazing to see. And I love those cars


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## Foxylady (Oct 17, 2010)

Fascinating to see all these. What a great opportunity.
Thankyou very much to you and your brother for sharing.


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## J_a_t_33 (Oct 22, 2010)

That's insanely cool!


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## tommo (Oct 22, 2010)

great work makes me want to go back now and have a look round, this time with no family


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## gingrove (Nov 10, 2010)

I had heard that the area was stiff with boobytraps but perhaps that was just a story to keep people away
 Great photos well done!


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## Lusker (Jan 2, 2011)

Very Nice Bartje

There is mines and other explosives laying around it use to be a war zone
But not where these pictures are taken as it is where Un troops patrol on foot and bye bike,
through the years locals been jumping fences to pick up stuff from the area
and a few got heard.
These picture are from the well visted Un zone compared to the turkish area along the water line with the hotels where wild dogs, rats and snakes roam, in this area allot of stuff got taken buy the turkish military
most door and window frames to use on a military base.
But still its such a amazing places with so much left behind its not all that will go over a fence

Nice set of pictures i envy your brother


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## tank2020 (Jan 2, 2011)

Very cool place, an abandoned town must be the holy grail for an Urbexer


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## spitfire (Jan 2, 2011)

These pictures only give a glimpse into how massive this place is. You have to consider this* the abandonded area is 112 miles long* ranging from 3.5 metres wide in the central area to 7.4 miles wide in more rural areas!!!. It includes Nicosia Airport complete with abandonded terminal and aircraft!.

The Varosha(Maras) district in Famagusta on the east cost is like a 1974 version of Benidorm with shell and bomb holes and building cranes still in postion 35 years on. I would estimate this town alone to be around the size of town like Epping, Essex in the UK. I visited in 2009 and got as close as someone can get without being shot. The soldiers watch you like hawks from towers and if you point a camera they point a gun!.

This place would be the ultimate film set for a sequel to 28 weeks later.

Have a look from the air
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...5.088591,33.964405&spn=0.064473,0.134926&z=13


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## Lusker (Jan 2, 2011)

Indeed its a cool location

Here is the places in this post showed by TA

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moYqkgkg53o[/nomedia]


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## cuboard (Jan 3, 2011)

ghost town! dosnt get much better then that


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## spitfire (Jan 3, 2011)

The Varosha(Maras) district in Famagusta 

You have to visit this area to get the real picture of how massive this is we are talking about a displacement of over 30,000 people just in this abandoned city!.

In Varosha there are 36 hotels with over 6000 rooms , 37 schools, a Major Library, Art Gallery, Museum, shopping centre, car dealership, garages, banks, building cranes, churches and homes.

I drove down a perimeter road and we managed to get this covert footage looking into the back end of it.

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0A4C3W-O4[/nomedia]


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## spitfire (Jan 4, 2011)

This site is very comprehensive. Includes aerial shots.

http://varosha.multiply.com


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## slb97 (Jan 8, 2011)

I visited Cyprus in 2009 and went on a tour and drove round some of the perimeter fence of this ghost town. Amazing to see but the signs of armed guards (and the sight of actual armed guards) was enough to put me off even reaching into my handbag! Also approached as far as we could at sea on a boat tour and to see the hotels and building cranes just abandoned was eerie. Just think if they made the ghost town a tourist destination they would rake it in!


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## BMWM535 (Jan 8, 2011)

114 072 22 said:


> Wow. thats crazy.
> 
> Somebody somewhere had to pay for all those cars. Bet they were gutted



The Toyota was pretty expensive in its time, Isnt that how motor museums are supposed to look? Very nice photos.


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## spitfire (Jan 8, 2011)

slb97 said:


> I visited Cyprus in 2009 and went on a tour and drove round some of the perimeter fence of this ghost town. Amazing to see but the signs of armed guards (and the sight of actual armed guards) was enough to put me off even reaching into my handbag! Also approached as far as we could at sea on a boat tour and to see the hotels and building cranes just abandoned was eerie. Just think if they made the ghost town a tourist destination they would rake it in!



There is even an exclusion zone in the sea marked by bouys. You can only get to a certain distance at sea away from the beach. Varosha is unlike anything else in the area because it technically falls outside of the UN Green Zone but the Turkish Army wont let anyone live there as it was a mainly Greek Cypriot place. 

Back in the summer of 1974 this was the number 1 holiday destination in Cyprus and contains 5 star hotels. It was used by famouse people. There is a major road running through it called JFK Boulavard fo goodness sake!


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## banshee (Jan 8, 2011)

this reminds me of the time me and a mate went into our local kebab shop.my mate was looking at a picture on the wall showing a holiday resort with big hotels and lovely beaches.he then told the owner that all that land was his dads before 1974.how much was that worth i wonder?


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## slb97 (Jan 8, 2011)

It's very sad for those who had to flee their homes. When researching it I read that the exiles mayor said 'it's waiting for its legitimate residents to return'. Sadly I don't think that's going to happen for a long long time, if ever (despite international appeals that haven't had much joy either).


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## 0xygen (Jan 13, 2011)

Really interesting stuff here! Thanks!

-0xy


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## Grockle (Jan 15, 2011)

thanks for posting,I was there many years ago bought back memories,it was all very sad


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