With winter holidays over, you might want to take into consideration a new and totally unusual trip. So why not try to visit the so-called ghost towns of the world? The destinations we can suggest include famous Chernobyl (where the nuclear accident occurred 26 years ago), the forbidden island of Japan and the deserted city in Cyprus. Now let us guide you through these strange places and discover a bit of your future possible adventure. Even if you want to make this trip just an imaginary one, it’s always good to know or just to ponder on their decline and mystery story.
Kolmanskop in Namibia is literally”hot”. That’s because the city located a few kilometers from Lüderitz port is now completely covered by sand.
In 1908, the situation was exactly the opposite: a haven for diamonds that used to have casinos, college and a hospital.
The town declined after World War I, when the diamond-field slowly exhausted and was ultimately abandoned in 1954. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand. Kolmanskop is popular with photographers for its settings of the desert sands’ reclaiming this once-thriving town. Due to its location within the restricted area (Sperrgebiet) of the Namib desert, tourists need a permit to enter the town.
Pripyat in Ukraine may not say anything at first, but it was located right where the Chernobyl plant used to be, which is famous for the accident that caused the deaths of thousands of people. Radioactive clouds determined over 50,000 people to be evacuated in 1986, and the legendary disaster dominates the area even now.
As a testimony there stand thousands of cables and scrap metal and pieces of concrete scattered in the area. Pripyat was founded in 1970 to house workers for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. In 1986 the city of Slavutich was constructed to replace Pripyat. After the city of Chernobyl, this is the second largest city for accommodating power plant workers.
But as the suffering of some people make some other businesses and people profitable, here you can even visit the place, that if you dare. The Zone of Alienation is considered relatively safe to visit, and several Ukrainian companies offer guided tours around the area. There’s even an agency that offers exclusive visits here and a day spent in this area cost around 160 euros, if you go with a group.
San Zhi resort in Taiwan was originally built for wealthy business people. It was abandoned before any of the structures were inhabited. A large number of accidents happened here, killing dozens of people. So the companies decided to stop building works, and only metallic structures remained. And many even say they would be haunted by the spirit of those who died. After many years in a state of decay, the resort was demolished in late 2008 and early 2009. The site was a favorite with photographers and tourists, but efforts to save it failed, and the site is now being redeveloped.
Craco, a small medieval town in southern Italy was built right on a hill and wass surrounded by thousands of hectares of farmland, which stretched rich crops of wheat and corn, which now remained neglected.
Medieval Craco was a Norman stronghold that had been settled for centuries, but a series of earthquakes and landslides forced residents out of the pretty hilltop town in the 1960s.
The boxy villas, crumbling palazzos and castle ruins have made it a favourite location for shooting movies: it featured in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and the Quantum of Solace Bond film.
The small French village Oradour-Sur-Glane is one of many cases where people have died of horrors in The Second World War. But, here, besides the cruelty of the war, much of the drama was caused by a fatal mistake. The Germans wanted to conquer the village Oradeur-Sur-Vayres, but arrived in the neighborhood. On 10 June 1944,642 people were killed. They spared no one.
The Forbidden island. We refer by this syntagm to Gunkanjima or Hashima Island, a Japanese island, one of the 505 uninhabited Japanese islands, which was bought in 1980 by Mitsubishi to exploit the deposit of coal here.
In 1959 the number of population increased so much in that the company has built dozens of apartments, reaching a point of becoming the second place in the world as density of people living in the area. But after the oil gradually replaced coal at the global level, mines began to close, including the Japanese island.
Kadykchan is one of the small Russian cities that fell into ruin along with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Kadykchan (in Evenki language it means a small gorge, ravine) was built by the hands of GULAG’s prisoners during World War II. Later it accommodated miners of a few local coal mines. As of 2010, the city is completely depopulated.
Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use.
In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the Walled City. After an arduous eviction process, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and occupies the area of the former Walled City. The park’s design is modeled on Jiangnan gardens and divided into eight landscape features. The park’s paths and pavilions are named after streets and buildings in the Walled City.
In Azerbaijan, Agdam city was home to over 150,000 people, but now turtles are at home. The only remnants of civilization are empty apartments, broken by vandals and small turtles.
In July 1993, after heavy fighting, Agdam was captured by the forces of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during its 1993 summer offensives. As the town fell, its entire population were forced to flee eastwards. Many were killed by Armenian soldiers. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, the Armenian forces decided to destroy much of Agdam to prevent its recapture by Azerbaijan.
