The Cypriot Ghostown of Varosha

August 28th, 2007, 1 Comment »

I’m currently reading Alan Weisman’s excellent The World Without Us, a thought experiment that imagines what the Earth might look like if all of us humans instantly vanished. Weisman discusses the case study of Varosha, the tourist neighbourhood of Famagusta in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Varosha enjoyed a development boom in the late sixties and early seventies, with the usual beach front of hotels and restaurants. The region aspired to be a sort of Cypriot Riveria.

Things changed, though, with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The Turks captured this part of Turkey, emptied out the population and sealed off Varosha. For the past 30-odd years, only Turkish military personnel and UN officials have visited the region. It’s an older, more Mediterranean Chernobyl.

I went looking for photos of the abandoned seaside town, and came up with these:

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What’s With the Greeks?

September 5th, 2002, No Comments »

In an effort to curtail online gambling (a foolhardy effort akin to the War on Drugs), the Greek government has seen fit to ban all video games. According to an English language newspaper, the Greek government is ‘incapable of distinguishing innocuous video games from illegal gambling machines.’ What the hell? When did Greece stop being a first-world democracy?

I don’t even know where to begin on this one. Forget about the human rights issue–consider the economic impact. In the US, the video game industry recently surpassed the film industry in terms of gross annual revenue. Clearly this will cost the Greek economy a big chunk of change (never mind the revenue from grey-to-black market online gambling).

Regardless, be careful what you bring on your laptop should you be visiting Greece. That innocent game of Minesweeper could cost you dearly.

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