The abandoned and deserted village, called Agios Sozomenos, is found between Potamia and Geri. The village’s dimensions are great, and most of it is included in the dead zone. This is the reason why its few residents abandoned it.
In 1974 very harsh battles took place in the area, between the defending Greek Cypriots and the attacking Turks, resulting to the destruction of the village.
The only construction left untouched was the Agios Sozomenos church. In the church area, and at a distance of a few dozens metres from it, there are remains of the Agios Mamas gothic church. At the roots of an upright mound there is a hermitage belonging to Agios Sozomenos.
The ruins of the elementary school, which is found on the peak of a small hill, are as if they are resisting to time. They refuse to collapse, and just stand there, with thousands of scars from the Turkish bullets on the walls.
You get filled with awe at the sight of the school. Once, not very far in time, this is where you could hear happy children’s voices echoing in surrounding mounds. If you walk in the village’s “streets”, a strange feeling will accompany you. You expect to hear voices from moment to moment. To see people coming out of the houses’ ruins. Everything around you, even the ghostly silence present in the village, take you to the conclusion that Agios Sozomenos is a haunted place.
The remains of the battles that took place there, the burnt army cars, reveal that lives were lost in this place. Young lives. Of young people. If you want to live moments of complete abandonment, if you want to travel to the past, Agios Sozomenos village in the Nicosia district is the suitable place for you.
Watch the video of our visit:
