Featured Image Credit: ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: World News, Travel
Joe Yates
There is a town on this planet that was under construction as part of a $200 million project and is filled with castles, and nothing else.
No occupants, no sign of life, nothing.
Located in Turkey, Burj Al Babas looks like something from Disney World, although it's much, much gloomier.
The ghost town can be found near Murdurnu, a small town to the north of the country roughly a two hour drive from the Black Sea.
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There are 587 abandoned miniature castles grouped throughout the village, and there was supposed to be 732 three-story luxury villas.
Nothing about this place sounds luxurious, although it was supposed to be when construction started in 2014.
All the castles would consist of a jacuzzi on each of its three floors, as well as underfloor heating.
While, according to the original brochure it sent out to customers, it was expected that the centre of the site would have a large domed structure that would consist of a shopping centre, health and beauty facilities, a mosque and cinema.
But halfway through making them, developer Sarot Group ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy with a debt of $5 million.
It had hoped to catch the eye of flashy tourists looking to buy a holiday home in the Turkish sun, and they were priced between $370,000 and $530,000.
Meaning, if they were all sold for the minimum amount Sarot Group would have landed $270 million... but that wasn't to be, as the decision was made to completely abandon the site in 2019.
Initially hiring 2,500 workers, the developers had hoped to finish within four years - and it was actually successful in the beginning with half of the castles selling before work had finished.
But in 2018, sales came to an abrupt end, with falling oil prices and instability in Turkey being the pinned as the reason for the sales drying up - and it was then that Sarot Group entered bankruptcy.
However, the mayor of Mudurnu, Mehmet İnegöl, was confident that it would be completed, although to date not one house has been.
The locals had their backs up from the start, and can you blame them?
Yes when construction began, they fumed at the gothic looks of the castles explaining that they did not resemble anything from the local area and that they would stick out from the countryside.
Then they fumed some more after claiming the developers were chopping trees down and damaging the environment.
Will we ever see the Burj Al Babas complete?