Amazing Places: Word’s Most Fascinating Ghost Towns

share | tweet | MORE |

 

Surprisingly or not, people don’t always expect nice views and life-changing experiences from their travels. Some just like to spice up their journeys with some goose bumps from time to time, which is also why many ghost towns have become favorite tourists destinations. Whether we’re talking about some dusty miner towns or medieval ruins, abandoned towns are likely to give us chills and thrills. And, depending on their level of conservation, some might be more just as educative as an open air museum. For today’s post, I have selected 5 of the most intriguing ghost towns around the world:

Mojave Ghost Towns, USA

For whoever crossed the Mojave desert on the route to the sunny hills of California, the presence of weird road signs indicating ghost towns might have raised a lot of questions. The explanation behind the existence of so many abandoned towns in this part of the United States is quite simple: the cities followed the faith of the historic Route 66 and were abandoned few years after the highway ceased to exist. In the ghost town of Goffs, visitors can witness some picturesque ruins, together with a Mojave Desert Museum.

Prypiat, Ukraine

Few other cities have witnessed such a fast and tragic death as the city of Prypiat, Ukraine. Following the explosion from Chernobyl,  around 50000 souls were evacuated in just two days. People were forced to leave most of their belongings behind, which later transformed Prypiat in a depressing open air museum. Now the the collapsing buildings, institutions and old amusement park seem to be inspired from a film noir setting.

The Russian Village Theme Park, Japan

Sometime in the early 2000s, some daring architect or theme park enthusiasts had the wacky idea of opening a Russian themed attraction park near Niigata, Japan. The park was a total fail and the owners were soon forced to close it, but incognito visitors can still travel to this nice mountainous region just to watch a mammoth skeleton and enter the real-size replica of a traditional Russian church.

Kowloon Walled City, China

If you ever watched Wallie or Blade Runner, then you might have an idea of what the district of Kowloon outside Hong King used to look like some decades ago. Sometime in the 80’s, Kowloon might as well have served as a filming location for a post apocalyptic screenplay, in which streets were covered in trash, and each of the tall, gloomy buildings could hide a mobster’s nest, low-life coffee house or brothel.

Craco, Italy

The medieval village of Craco in Southern Italy is among the oldest ghost cities in the world. Craco was first attested in the mid 11th century (1060), when the whole village belonged to the church. The decay of Craco began in the 18th century, following the unification of Italy and the poverty that determined millions of Italians to immigrate to the United States. After a series of devastating earthquakes, the old town was finally abandoned. However, Craco’s impossible sky and picturesque ruins make perfect settings for antiquity inspired movies: King Davis and the Passion of the Christ are only a few examples.

You might also like

share | tweet | more |

 

Leave a comment on Amazing Places: Word’s Most Fascinating Ghost Towns

Enter your comment below, or Trackback from your own blog. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS
 

Leave a comment:

* your name

* your email address (will not be published)

your website

 

*=required