The curious town of abandoned “Disney” castles

Living in a French-style castle in the middle of the mountains of Türkiye seemed to be the dream of many millionaires, especially Arabs, who, starting in 2011, began to invest thousands of dollars in a new luxury residential development in Türkiye, which never saw the light of day. And it became a very particular ghost town, of great tourist attraction.

Strategically located halfway between the two most important cities in the country; Istanbul (260 km to the west) and the capital, Ankara (200 km to the east), 45 km in a straight line from the coasts of the Black Sea, and 68 km from those of the Sea of ​​Marmara, Burj Al Babas It promised to be an exclusive city, for a select group of millionaires who would live in a kind of permanent fairy tale.

The idea began to materialize in 2011, when a Turkish economic group called Sarot acquired a large piece of land among the picturesque mountains of the Bolu province, on which it planned very particular architectural designs, with the idea of ​​creating a new enclave for the elites.

The original project was to build 732 residential chalets in the style of French castles -although for many the final result evokes more the Disney style fantasy castles– as housing for the upper classes of the Persian Gulf countries, who would invest between 380,000 and 500,000 euros for these luxury houses.

Each castle has a constructed area of 225 square metersand its interior decoration is customizable, to the taste of each client, although all would have high comfort details such as underfloor heating, a garden with a swimming pool and a jacuzzi on each floor, which would be linked to the fame of the nearby city of Mudurnu, widely visited for its Roman baths.

In the style of a country club house, a larger, classic-style building was built in the center of this neighborhood, designed to offer leisure services such as a shopping center, restaurants, cinema, shops, hammams (Turkish baths), swimming pools, gyms and daycare for the youngest millionaires.

The particular project quickly gained momentum, with the advance sale of units to millionaires from Arab countries: the vast majority of buyers were from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

And everything seemed to be going smoothly: in 2014 construction began, and By 2016, 587 units had already been builtnearly 80% of the projected total, and more than 350 had been sold.

On the place’s website (burjalbabas.com), which curiously is still online, the advantage of the environment is also sold: forests, mountains, lakes and ski resorts close at hand for residents.

But dream of own castle collapsed like a (fairly) house of cards: the construction company assured that in 2016 financial problems began because many clients began to not pay the credits already registering increasing debts, and many operations were canceled when the work was practically finished.

Those responsible for Sarot attributed the problem to a significant oil price dropalthough others claim that the biggest inconvenience came from a growing political tension between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

And there are also those who say, with some reason, that the cause of the failure was the design and layout of these curious homes: all the same castles, one next to the other, on plots of just 160 m2 and without green spaces or privacy, so the place looks more like an amusement theme park than a residential neighborhood.

Criticism came especially from local residents. of the historic city of Mudurnumwho say that the place affects the landscape quality of Bolu and that the architectural style of the castles – it is clear – has no nothing to do with the traditional Ottoman style which predominates in nearby municipalities.

Furthermore, the project was criticized for its environmental impactsince thousands of trees were destroyed in a very beautiful and fertile land for its construction.

With a debt of 27 million dollars and no possibility of continuing to finance the project – the debt issue is in the hands of Turkish justice -, the construction company declared bankruptcy and suspended the works, with which what would be a luxury development was transformed into a very curious ghost town in the middle of the mountains.

There in 2018, those responsible for the Sarot group did not give up, and said that they still hoped to sell another 100 castles, which would allow them to pay their debt and revive the project. Six years after those statements, that dream seems increasingly distant.

Meanwhile, the castles in line are still there, like a disruptive and ghostly nightmare in the mountains of northwestern Turkey.