Cyprus UN buffer zone - 36 years abandoned Toyota dealership

[ChinaTom]

Every time I look at that picture of the aiport interior I start feeling a kind of vertigo

 

[face]

The out of focusness(!) of it I mean

[gtd2000]

Re-scanned a section of the photo for the plane spotters out there

 

 

And here is the old school that had the bomb dropped on it - from a Phantom (for the spotters) according to the story...

 

[MrRegieRitmo]

I had my only trip to Cyprus to date in 2001, we went north (via a pointless landing in Turkey prior to take off again) & stayed in a lovely harbour town called Kyrenia. It was one of our best ever holidays & we loved the natural beauty of the unspoilt north (and I loved the abundance of elderly vehicles in use & returned with 9 camera films full of chod!)

 

 

Where's the bloody photos then?

 

I believe they're all packed away, probably in the garage. They'd all have to be scanned in as I didn't go digital until 2004! I was using 25 & 40 exposure Kodak Advantix. Still got a carrier bag somewhere with about 80 undeveloped films going back to Dec 2000 when I first got my Kodak film camera up until about the end of 2003, early 2004.

[gtd2000]

+1

 

I had my only trip to Cyprus to date in 2001, we went north (via a pointless landing in Turkey prior to take off again) & stayed in a lovely harbour town called Kyrenia. It was one of our best ever holidays & we loved the natural beauty of the unspoilt north (and I loved the abundance of elderly vehicles in use & returned with 9 camera films full of chod!)

 

 

I went up there too for lunch with my mother when she came over to visit me during my tour.

 

We ate at a restaurant over-looking the sea and the main thing I remember was the quality of the orange fresh juice that they served, the owner was very pleased with this comment and presented me with a 1 Litre Vodka bottle filled with his orange juice freshly squeezed from his trees!

 

On the house too!

 

We used to rent Dacias up in the North and practice our J-turns if the truth be told..

[whitevanman]

OK.Cheers

 

It's not a 737 Mr CT.... wrong Fin shape at the top.................

[messerschmitt owner]

Re-scanned a section of the photo for the plane spotters out there

 

 

Tu104 - Czech Airways - crashed there in 1973

[retrogeezer]

I didn't realise this went right across the island, I knew about the coastal resort part and had seen pics of that before. It says on google that access is now 'more relaxed' - I'd love to have a look about over there.

[whitevanman]

Tu104 - Czech Airways - crashed there in 1973

 

 

So it is.....did you spot that or look it up?

[messerschmitt owner]

Tu104 - Czech Airways - crashed there in 1973

 

 

So it is.....did you spot that or look it up?

I may be a plane geek too - comes with having published lots of books about them ...

[sporty-shite]

We went over in 2005, and I managed to get into Nicosia airport solely by acting dumb and relying on the poor English skills of the Spanish UN officer on the gate. Managed to take this out of the car, before Mrs S insisted we get the fuck out before we got arrested in a Greek plane spotter stylee.

 

 

I also thought I'd be able to find a "hole in the fence". I was fucked off royally by the UN, and told in no uncertain terms that I'd be at considerable risk if I tried to cross the fence. This was on the loutskirts of Famagusta. On the other hand, though, there are a few videos on youtube, so it looks like it could be possible. However, the words I read that put me right off were from a former serving soldier out there who had responded to a simialr thread to this. He said that if you're in there and not wearing UN uniform, you WILL be shot. When it comes to flying lead, I'm a right pussy, me!

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

He said that if you're in there and not wearing UN uniform, you WILL be shot. When it comes to flying lead, I'm a right pussy, me!

 

A bit of social engineering required there then, just need to get a blue beret, and some generic military stuff from eBay. See you later bullets!

[ashmicro]

UN WALT! Actually, there's a load of UN gear on eBay, a lot of it from IDF (Ireland, not Israel). My ex's Dad was in Lebanon back in the day, and he's still got all his gear (not the SLR or Steyr, sadly). Mind you, the amount of shagging he did in Lebanon, he didn't need an IW!

[whitevanman]

Tu104 - Czech Airways - crashed there in 1973

 

 

So it is.....did you spot that or look it up?

I may be a plane geek too - comes with having published lots of books about them ...

 

oh, DO tell...........

[gtd2000]

I also thought I'd be able to find a "hole in the fence". I was fucked off royally by the UN, and told in no uncertain terms that I'd be at considerable risk if I tried to cross the fence. This was on the loutskirts of Famagusta. On the other hand, though, there are a few videos on youtube, so it looks like it could be possible. However, the words I read that put me right off were from a former serving soldier out there who had responded to a simialr thread to this. He said that if you're in there and not wearing UN uniform, you WILL be shot. When it comes to flying lead, I'm a right pussy, me!

 

That's probably just nonsense - most of the time we didn't have ammunition, let alone magazines for our rifles... (we were not happy about this - politics and all that bollocks - boy scouts with blue berets if the truth be told..)

 

The other side of this equation is that the average soldier couldn't hit a barn door with a rifle from a reasonable distance and did you know only 2% of soldiers actually shoot to kill in battle.

 

Chances are very low that anything nasty would happen to you at all based on that info

 

Of course I'm not suggesting that you should break any laws and expose yourself to any potential danger

 

Of course we did have incidents where the Greeks and Turks took pot shots at each other - they were probably the only troops with bullets issued to them on a daily basis....might be that the danger could be from outside of the buffer zone.

 

Based on my experiences, UN troops had their hands so tightly bound behind their backs, that you'd be out of there before a decision could be made

[eddyramrod]

I've been living in my hilltop village near Paphos for 18 months now, and haven't visited Nicosia yet! (Plenty of time, I'm planning to be here the rest of my life...) We did have a few days in the North, however. Crossing the buffer zone was a bit eerie, but once across, it was like a timewarp. I often say the Greek side is like stepping back 25 years or so, well for the Turkish side, you can add at least 10. I did spot a bunch of old cars, some even in use, and even including an A40 (not in use) in Kyrenia. What amazed me most was the rental fleet: almost all Renault 9s, which disappeared from western Europe years ago. I saw many interesting variations of Fiat too that I don't remember from the UK market; also, that I don't see south of the Green Line.

 

The south, and particularly the fringes of Paphos, are normally regarded as affluent areas. Well you do see a lot of new or newish Mercs and BMWs, and Japanese 4x4s. However it is still perfectly possible to find a really nice old car (I know!), or a decaying wreck in a field. I've posted enough pics of both types for you already, and there will be more. Haven't found anything like this Toyota garage yet, but give me time...

 

Mr Hatred, if you'd like to meet up while you're here, drop me a pm and we'll arrange something.

[AnthonyG]

The Turkish Fiat company 'Tofas' made lightly restyled Miraforis/131s many years after Fiat Italy stopped making them. Tofas is a JV between Fiat and the wonderfully named 'Koc' holdings:

 

http://english.tofas.com.tr/

 

From memory the local Ford plant made the last generation of Taunus (Cortina Mk5s) up until the end of the 1980s. Now they make FWD Transits and I'm fairly sure all Transit Connects sold in the EU are sourced from that plant.