Mr John Personal Experience - Varosha Ghost Town Famagusta Tour

We were advised to be at our pick up point at 07.40. We arrived at 07.30…in case they were early! 08.10, still no sign-eventually they arrived, coach was full so got a seat where we could-it seems we were the last pick up. So our tour started but then abruptly stopped as we pulled up outside a coffee shop and asked to alight. We were told they had an appointment for their almost flat tyre to be repaired and they would be back in ‘15 minutes’. We sat and waited, Mr John gave everyone a bottle of water, then he disappeared. Almost an hour later the coach appeared, no apology for the delay! You are given an earpiece which feeds Mr John’s narration, the concept is good but unfortunately his very quick dialogue makes it hard to always understand what he’s saying. We got to the first border check point, ten minute wait, then to the Turkish check point another ten minute wait, but then the we met Mr Abdhul-our Turkish guide! He was great, very engaging, humorous and very knowledgeable and made the tour his own! Getting to Varosha was fab, we had a walk through the ruins of the old resort, amazing but also very sad. The coach took us into the old town where you had over 1.5 hours to explore, lots of shops, restaurants and bars-it was lovely. Our tour of 4 hours ran into 6, the main of it was amazing.

A very nice experience. I can recommend it to everyone. You have to see this!

Trip was lovely mr john was very informative. Only problem i had was walking round famagusta with hearing app on as I walk slow as on a crutch and could not all ways hear what mr john was saying as he walked to fast and was out of range to pick it up .other than that I would recommend going with mr john 👍

+19

A really good way to visit this part of the occupied north of the island without a car. Mr John has so much information and personal experiences to share and there was so much to take in that maybe a little less but spoken more slowly would have enhanced the trip. Especially on the way home on the coach - maybe a recording of what he was saying would have been easier to follow on the coach's audio system. Mr John set off at quite a speed through Varosha and so I spent more time with Mr Ahmed who brought up the rear of the group and he was excellent with his stories of life in the town. A slower walk would have made it easier to follow both men's commentary as well as stops to take photos. In my opinion some time can be sacrificed in Famagsuta to allow this whilst still giving sufficient time to explore the town. But overall a great trip and i would recommend going before Varosha deteriorates further. You will hear sufficient information to enjoy both Varosha and the surrounding area but there was clearly more that i missed.

Short and sweet: I absolutely recommend it!!!

+2

Firstly, let me please say that this tour has a lot of potential, Mr John clearly lived through a harrowing ordeal of being uprooted from his home in 1974 and has some excellent stories, but as a 40 year old couple with no hearing difficulties we found it almost impossible to understand Mr John. I honestly don't think I could take in 10% of what was being said as he simply speaks so fast! He clearly has a wealth of information & experience to divulge but it was impossible to understand him. Secondly, and the biggest issue for us, is that the tour is 7 hours long from pickup to drop off, not 4. Of this, BARELY ONE HOUR IS SPENT IN THE GHOST TOWN. Theres more time spent at the cafe in Old Famagusta having lunch than in the actual attraction you've booked to see. In Varosha, Mr John basically runs around the place with people trying to keep up. You stop for 20 seconds to take a photo and he's 50m up the road. There's is NO TIME AT ALL TO STOP and take anything in, you're in and out of the town before you can blink! There's a cafe there, but the tour goes to the old town to a cafe that's plugged as if Mr John himself is taking a kickback. If you want to actually see Varosha and spend some time looking around it leisure, taking photos etc, we'd say to definitely book elsewhere! We were really disappointed as I felt I learnt very little due to the speed of the talking and saw very little due to the speed of the running round! Mr Ahmed, the guide who joins from the North side of the border was MUCH easier to understand and did give some great information but it's just such a shame we barely got to see the place.

I booked this tour because of the good reviews, but I should have paid more attention to the bad ones. If I could rate the tour with zero points, I would have. Having already visited Varosha, Famagusta, and Salamis with another operator (a very interesting tour), I wanted to spend more time in the ghost town this time. The tour is advertised as promising, but unfortunately it only offers disappointment. I was picked up by that minibus from Mr. John and then we continued in a larger tour bus. The bus was quite full and cramped. I sat all the way in the back at first. The earphones we were given worked very poorly; you could hardly hear anything. After I informed Mr. John that you absolutely cannot understand anything in the back of the bus, he did try to speak louder, but it didn't help. The bus driver, who was very nice, then came to the back and offered to let me sit in a free seat at the front, which I did. I could hear Mr. John, but his incomprehensible English and the constant repetition of words did not change that, of course. Regarding the earphones: they were collected once (was Mr. John worried someone would take these things with them?) and later distributed again (from a hygienic point of view and in the heat, anything but pleasant, since the relics were, of course, uncleaned) Apart from that, Mr. John's English is unfortunately very simple and his stories anything but informative. With all empathy for him and all the people who had to leave Famagusta back then - Mr. John is neither a professional tour guide nor a local with good knowledge and exciting stories, nor does he know anything about historical backgrounds. After we had arrived in the ghost town (it was even mentioned when booking that one should bring water and sunscreen), he walked through the city with the group for an hour. No time was agreed upon for the departure, nor was there any time to explore the city on our own. Mr. John walked his route without paying attention to the group. Mr. Ahmed, the guide who comes from the Turkish part and accompanied us, had good English and certainly more knowledge and education. He stayed a little behind during Mr. John's marathon through the streets with the passengers who wanted to take photos and for whom the pace was too fast, and he also explained a little bit. A young woman in our group had injured her foot. Mr. Ahmed told her that we would come back the same way, so she just waited there. Mr. John probably didn't even notice. He had never counted the group; I do not believe he would have noticed if someone had been left behind (only on the bus when returning the passports, which were needed for the trip to the Turkish part and were collected on the bus). I mentioned to Mr. Ahmed that the pace is much too fast to get an impression of the city, to take photos, or even just to drink a sip of water. He said there was no more time, as people would complain if the excursion lasted longer; he would inform Mr. John about my concerns, however. When we were back at the bus, Mr. Ahmed asked me to present my concerns to Mr. John myself. He only countered by asking if I was aware of how hot it would get (yes, I am; it was not my first time in Cyprus) and that I could just stay there if I wanted to. Are you kidding me?!? So after we had walked through the streets for 1 hour and were back on the bus, he had the group vote on how long they wanted to stay in Famagusta Old Town for lunch (60, 75, or 90 minutes). Here, the time suddenly did not matter. This lunch stop was not indicated in the tour; if you take into account this unnecessary time and the required travel to and from, the "active" tour was no longer than an hour. Convenient for Mr. John, who simply recommended the first restaurant there and had not mentioned a word about other restaurants there or even about the city. I absolutely do not understand why this trip has so many good reviews. Either they are not genuine or people really do not know what a good tour guide is like. My advice: do NOT book a tour with Mr. John. Choose an excursion from your tour operator or book locally with a travel agency. There you will have professional tour guides. My tour guide back then was a very nice, competent lady who also came from Famagusta, so a similar situation to Mr. John, but actually competent and educated. With all due respect, Mr. John can be described as neither empathetic, nor likable, nor competent. So, if you do not want to waste a vacation day, save yourself this tour.

Really enjoyed our visit to Famagusta. Mr John made the experience a one to remember. His knowledge allowed a very informative tour. The tour was good value for money lasting a few hours at the ghost town then onto a pretty little village where we enjoyed 1 and half hours free time. Having the time ear piece allowed us to listen to Mr Johns experiences and information.

Mr John delivered an excellent account of life before and after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Because he lived through it, you felt a greater connection than just a guide working from a script. Over all a fantastic visit to the town of Verosha and Old Verosha town. Would highly recomend thus above the usual guide tour.

+1

The hole experience was fantastic and very informative. Would highly recommend