Featured Image Credit: YES Theory/YouTube
A YouTube video has given us a stunning look at the remains of a once-luxurious resort, one that was a booming destination in the 1970s before crumbling into abandonment since.
Popular channel Yes Theory visited the UN buffer zone that separates Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus to see the city of Varosha.
It was once a desirable beach resort that welcomed throngs of tourists each summer, but when Turkey invaded in 1974 it became a ghost town seemingly overnight.
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Cyprus' history is a complicated one, and a video on the YouTube channel of Yes Theory gives a quick overview of the tension between Cyprus and Turkey to explain why the city ended up vacant.
Now, though, decades after the invasion that emptied it, Varosha still stands there empty and unoccupied.
This meant the channel had to get permission from both the Turkish military and the UN to explore it, and they were told not to go inside any buildings under threat of arrest.
With a military escort and a member of the Turkish press office in attendance, it clearly would have been an interesting video to film.
Once the team gets into Varosha, the contrast between nearby occupied areas and the desolated city is stunning, since it is basically a one-street boundary.
Buildings immediately start to appear damaged and crumbling, with disrepair everywhere and the results of bombing runs from years ago still evident.
There are restaurants and cafes with chairs and tables still visible inside, along with countless big apartment blocks that look as ghostly as any post-apocalyptic backdrop in a movie or TV show.
With stunning stretches of beach that are now completely unused, it's easy to see why it was a magnet for tourists in simpler times.
The team manages to talk to some locals who used to live in Varosha, one of whom even shows them the building that was his home, heartbreakingly, and get some perspective on what it was like to be forced to flee the area.
One of the most amazing segments is right at the start of the video as the team walks around the abandoned runway of a now-defunct airport that used to serve the city, which has decayed on the spot and even features a plane left where it was parked, now weathered by time.
Other people have managed to visit Varosha's abandoned quarters over the years, and have come out with stunning photos of its empty streets and crumbling buildings, so if you prefer photographic evidence to a video, you're in luck, too.
French photographer Dimitri Bourriau has taken many pictures of Varosha, some of which showcase its decayed splendour from stunning angles.
