Varosha

Varosha is the vast district of Famagusta, Cyprus, which extends south from the Venetian-era walls of the old city. Here most of my paternal relatives once lived until 1974. Since that time Varosha has been inside the UN buffer zone along the Green Line and is effectively a ghost city. A few years ago one of our students, Austin Miedema, was enroled in one of my classes where I talked about my extended family's experience in that troubled island. A musician, he was inspired to compose a song about Varosha, which he performed at Hamilton's Freeway Café at the weekend.