Two Britons ended a record-setting row across the Pacific Ocean on Friday, passing underneath San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge more than six months after leaving Japan in a 23-foot (seven-meter) boat.

An eerie silence lingers over Varosha, an abandoned Greek Cypriot neighborhood left in beachfront limbo since war split the Mediterranean island.

Travelers seeking a quiet place need look no further than the numerous towns around the world that have been abandoned for one reason or another.