Famagusta : Cyprus

Famagusta or GazimaÄŸusa is a city on the east coast of Cyprus.
The town was known as Arsinoe (after Arsinoe of Egypt) in antiquity, then Ammochostos (meaning “hidden in sand�) which is how it is today referred to in Greek. The same name developed into Famagusta,used in Western European languages and the Turkish name of Mağusa (Gazi is a turkish prefix meaning glorified). It seems to have had its heyday in the 13th century when Christians fleeing from Syria and Palestine settled there and developed it into a wealthy city. It declined after a riot in the 14th century and by the 15th when the Venetians took over, it had seen better times. They redeveloped it, building a massive wall round the old town, still mostly remaining. The Martinengo bastion is an excellent example of expert fortification, as it provides protection for the walls on either side of it: it reminded one tourist (no expert!) of a similar protection to be seen far away in the walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England. The Ottoman forces took over after that, converting churches into mosques or using them for secular purposes. The Cathedral of St Nicholas became the Lala Mustapha Pasa Mosque.
In later years the British demolished many buildings to provide material for Port Said and the Suez Canal. Famagusta was attacked and subsequently possesed by the Turkish military during the invasion of the island by Turkey in 1974 and its Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled,never to return again. As a result of the invasion most of the then modern parts of the city were deserted, becoming a closed off military zone, something which persists to this day.This section of the city is often described as a “Ghost Town� as it has been frozen in time with department stores still full of clothes, now many years out of fashion and hotels still fully equipped.
Apart from that sad aspect, the rest of it is a vibrant town and has many fascinating buildings. Today, it is located in the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.