the Travel Enthusiast
- 17 Oct
The creepiest ghost towns in Europe
Tyneham, photo by Claudia Gabriela Marques Vieira
Most of the world’s famous ghost towns are what’s left of old, short-lived mining towns in the US and Canada which were abandoned once there was little ore left to find. But the towns you see in old Western movies are not the only kind of ghost towns around.
Old Europe also has several sad tales of abandoned towns and villages that now lie empty but still intact. These ghost towns have been abandoned for various reasons, some tragic and some uninteresting, but the towns themselves are all worth a visit. Feel the past creep up behind your back while you visit some of the creepiest ghost towns in Europe.
Tyneham, Dorset, UK
The small town of Tyneham doesn’t have a particularly sad or tragic history, but there’s a sense of nostalgia pervading the empty buildings. During WWII, the government expropriated the land on which the town was built in order to construct an artillery range, and even after the war ended nobody returned to Tyneham. There are some unexploded mines, as well as some tanks lying around the town, so you should keep to the officially marked footpath.
Pyramiden, Svalbard, Norway
Pyramiden, photo by Eckhard Pecher
The Svalbard archipelago had some important coal reserves, and the town of Pyramiden used to a mining settlement established by Norway, and later sold to Russia.
The town was finally abandoned in 1998, and in recent years the Russian government found a new use for it: use it for guided tours. Pyramiden can be visited any time of the year, and guided tours in English are available.
Dvigrad, Croatia
Dvigrad is one of the oldest settlements in Croatia, whose history goes back to prehistoric times. Dvigrad’s history was pretty turbulent: it was ransacked by Venetians in the 14th century, nearly depopulated by malaria and plague in the 16th century, attacked by Uskoks not much later and in 1714, the last resident left the town. Today, Digrad is being preserved and reconstructed and it looks more and more like its medieval self.
Fatgest, Catalonia, Spain
The people living in the area think that the ghost village of Fatges is cursed. It is true that it was abandoned in mysterious circumstances, and after several assassinations most of the inhabitants left in a hurry. Most of the houses are in state of decay, and coupled with the bad reputation of the town, it creates a rather creepy atmosphere.
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travel search by Travelgrove (get this widget)Solana Valley, Spain
Solana Valley, photo by Juan R. Lascorz
Visiting Solana Valley in Spain is like being transported into a post-apocalyptic film in which all of humanity was quitely destroyed, leaving only their villages and towns behind.
Although many of the houses are in ruin, most of the villages have churches that are still standing, whose murals are still worthy of admiration. Castellar, Ginuabel, Puyuelo and Villamana are only a few of the dozen or so villages in the valley.
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