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My wife originates from there and I managed to get into the closed area twice but that was over 20 years ago with the Austrian U.N. who used to have a billet at Edelweiss cafe.They only have a patrol route in and out and cannot explore freely, as someone has already pointed out.
Entry to Varosha is very restricted and very hard to obtain-senior diplomats and very rare journalists with invitations are allowed in under escort-the only other persons who get in are Turkish Military personnel(and their families who holiday at the Sandy Beach and Golden Plage hotels!)and special civilian personel who patrol the fence to keep people like us out and do very basic essential safety work.
I would be very interested to speak to Oranos to learn more about his visit and how he managed to get permission.
I contribute regularly to the reurn to Famagusta Varosha group site and am the guy with the now famous pre 1974 map of Famagusta which you can also see on the site!

All the best!
M.

Cymart,

I am a Varoshiotis and would love to see the map. Can you give us the site URL?

I lived in Alexandrou street, and went to school in Ayia Zoni. Would love to see the old streets again. I did retrived the Google maps but the resolution was not high enough for me.

How was the place when you went?

Regards

Nikitas

bigdog wrote:Has anyone at all been in there since ? Suppose it`s too dangerous ?
A few years ago a GC taxi driver took my wife and I to the north to show us where he used to live . He took on a drive and some places including a beech you could see into the city . I found it so strange to stand so close to somewhere yet not be able to go any closer because of a simple fence . I know your not supposed to but I did get a few pics .

Hi bigdog I`ve been Maras(Varosa) many times as a guest of my uncle. He was one of the top rank officer who control the security of the Maras. Unbelivable city and such a shame that still empty after all this years.1994 was the last time I visit Maras and most of the banks still have their money in their safes. I saw Mazda car showroom cars still there,all of the hotels stock was shipped to turkish army bases and cutlery and plates I saw using at the army restorants and resting houses back of the plates was stamp of the hotels from Maras...

Thanks for the reply Wolf . I find the place very interesting . Did you follow the link for pics further back in this thread ?

Nikitas the school at Ayia Zoni is in the inhabited area so you can visit it-the fence runs along the left hand side of the road towards Dherinia so anywhere to the right of it is accessible.The church of Ayia Zoni is just inside the closed area and right on the boundary so you can go right up to the outside of it but be careful as there is always a guard there!If you look on youtube there is a film of someone who visited your school!
The question of Varosha cannot be solved independently of the rest of the Cyprus issue because Turkey will never give it up as an interim measure-it's their biggest bargaining chip!
And the chances of that happening look less likely than ever after the Papadopoulos- Talat meeting yesterday-they can't even agree on how to start negotiations,let alone on what!
The only hope might be that either Christophias or Cassoulides win the next election-all we can do is hope for the best!

Cymart,

THank you for the information! Now I can take my son and show him where his father went to school.

I too was disappointed with the results of the talks. How difficult can it be to talk about the five or six issues that are at the root of this problem? On the other hand if the problem was solved what would our politicians do? In a peaceful and boring nation of 1 million people there is not scope for national saviours, and maybe that is the problem, no one wants to relinquish the self importance that the problem affords them.

Still, I really want to visi the place just once.

Cymart,

I just saw the film on youtube. It looks like the area north of Ayia Zoni is occupied and lived in. So when the talk is about return of Varosha then we are talking about return of half of the city, Kato Varosi and the area around Saint George Farangas is inhabited and will not be subject to returning. There is always a catch!

It was nice to see the old school painted pink! It was more serious in my day.

Thank you for guiding me to youtube

Nikitas

The road to Dherina all the way from outside Ayia Ekaterini church roughly marks the boundary between the inhabited and uninhabited areas.IF the Annan Plan had gone through, the closed area and some other parts north of it would have been returned to us in 90 days,with a gradual phased hand-over of most of the areas south of the Larnaca Famagusta road during the next few years and this would have included all of Kato Varosha and the other places you mentioned!The Turkish Cypriots and mainlanders who live there now would have been relocated and given other houses within the newly defined Turkish area-and most of them were prepared to move then as part of a solution.....
Sorry, but if Papadopulos had not 'peeled a sack of onions' and cried during his desperate T.V. address and Lillikas had not run the demonisation campaign against the Annan Plan which he started in February 2004 before the final negotiations in Switzerland had even taken place, we would have been home by now,or at least started renovating Varosha........
Panagopoulos, the Greek spin-doctor who masterminds the governments p.r. is also running Papad's bid for re-election so be warned as knowing that the contest will be very close, he will use every trick in the book to get him into the second round and after that his chances of re-election will be much higher!
Scare- mongering,mis-representation,distortion and downright lies, Putin style, are the characteristics of Papad's government and him and his cronies will do anything they can to stay in power.The last four years here have made me begin to hate what Cyprus is becoming and that upsets me almost as much as the Turkish invasion!

To see what those ITK (In the Know )are talking about, if you go to this link you will see what they are going on about :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY2QsgDUibw



Regards


Dave

Was it filmed by someone in a) the militaryb) the U.N. or c)a Turkish Cypriot municipal employee,using a mobile phone camera secretly?
Will we ever find out?
because the film moves quick,can we also presume it was taken from a vehicle?

Or was it you John,after getting permission to visit Oceania??