On the eve of Halloween, EcoTourism Expert offers an overview of the so-called phantom cities, whose inhabitants were forced to leave their homes for a variety of reasons - be it an environmental disaster, an economic downturn, a war or an industrial accident, very quickly acquire a ghostly appearance and envelop themselves in a supernatural aura. The veil of mystery attracts a new generation of travelers to abandoned cities, and their visit is gradually becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations.
And Halloween is the perfect time to visit them. Let's be afraid together..! Let's focus on the most striking ghost towns on the map of Europe.
Doyle, Belgium
Doyle is a Flemish town located on the banks of the Scheldt River, near Antwerp. The main historical attractions of Doyle are Belgium's first stone mill of the 17th century and the ancestral home of the family of the famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. There is a nuclear power plant about one kilometer from Doyle.
Due to the plans of the local authorities to build an additional berth for the port of Antwerp, as well as as a result of the compensation paid, most residents left Doyle. However, the protests of those who decided to stay and the widespread support in the media postponed the demolition of Doyle indefinitely. Today, Doyle, which was home to over 1,300 people in the 1970s, has only about 20 residents.
The Flemish town with a 400-year history has become an object of attraction for wall painting lovers from all over Europe. At one time, teenagers and squatters partied in his abandoned houses with cracked walls and clogged windows, but law enforcement put an end to this practice.
Today, Doyle, being a popular tourist attraction, periodically serves as a place for filming feature films.
Pyramiden, Norway
Pyramiden has nothing to do with Egypt. It is a city on the island of Svalbard, one of the coldest places on the planet. No one has lived here since the 1990s. The settlement where coal mining was carried out was abandoned after the latter became scarce. Today, only buildings frozen in ice and polar bears can be seen in the Pyramid. Given the inaccessibility, few tourists were lucky enough to set foot here!
Oradour-sur-Glane, France
The town of Oradour-sur-Glane is located in the Haute-Vienne department in southwestern France. In June 1944, the SS burned and shot 642 residents of Oradour-sur-Glane, and the settlement itself was practically wiped off the face of the earth.
After the Second World War, it was decided not to rebuild the settlement in order to turn it into a sanctuary in memory of the victims of the Nazis.
Oradour-sur-Glane was turned into an open-air museum. The belongings of the dead people are kept here - watches that stopped at the moment of the death of the burned alive, glasses melted by the heat of the fire and other evidence of the atrocities of the fascists.
Belchite, Spain
The history of Belchite is reminiscent of the history of Oradour-sur-Glane. Over the past few centuries, Belchite, located 49 km from the capital of Aragon - Zaragoza, has historically been the site of numerous bloody battles and clashes: during the War of Independence in 1809 and the Civil War of 1936-1939.
Bombing and massacres eventually led to the destruction of Belchite, which was completely destroyed in 1937. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco decided not to restore Belchite (years of rule 1939-1975) in order to make it a place of remembrance.
Today, the ruins of the city still seem to be smoking, as this place is saturated with the horror of war.
Craco, Italy
The small medieval town of Craco in southern Italy, founded on a picturesque hill more than 1300 years ago, owes its abandonment to Mother Nature.
In the 1960s, all the inhabitants left the rock fortress: numerous landslides made the presence of people impossible. Today, despite its desolation, Craco attracts filmmakers from all over the world due to its picturesqueness, but is also appreciated by the scientific community.
Researchers come here to study the impact of landslides on building structures, which makes Craco a place of great scientific interest and allows engineers to improve the design of earthquake-resistant buildings.
Mystra, Greece
Mystra is a medieval city built by the Byzantines on the hills of the Peloponnese Peninsula.
Historically, Mystra was one of the most powerful cities in the region and a cornerstone of Byzantine culture.
In the 19th century, the city changed hands several more times: first it was occupied by the Greeks, then repulsed by Egyptian troops, and later it was occupied by the French. With the return of Greece to independence, part of the remaining population of Mystra went to neighboring Sparta, and with the acquisition of the status of an archaeological monument, the last of its inhabitants left the city in 1953.
Many churches, the palace of the emperors and the impregnable Frankish citadel have been preserved in Mystras. All the sites are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Interestingly, it was in Mystras that the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI was crowned in 1441. Here, around 1455, his niece Sophia Palaiologos was born, who became the second wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, the mother of Vasily III and the grandmother of Ivan IV the Terrible.
Varosha, Cyprus
Varosha is a giant neighborhood in the city of Famagusta on the island of Cyprus.
Founded in 1972, Varosha was designed to accommodate a resort focused on attracting Western tourists. Many new hotels and tourist facilities have been built here.
However, two years later, in 1974, as a result of the invasion of the Turkish army, Cyprus was divided into two parts - Turkish and Greek. The Greeks who lived in Varosha were ordered to leave the area within a day, taking with them only what they could carry, and since then they have been forbidden to return to the quarter.
Today Varosha is one of the most iconic ghost towns on the map of Europe. Tall buildings designed to accommodate vacationers are planted with blackberries and serve as nests for birds.
