Fellow Primo

We are used to seeing ancient Roman and Greek cities in Turkey. However, did you know that there is vast city built by the ancient Macedonians on a plain, surrounded by deep valleys in Western Turkey?

Blaundos Ancient City

Blaundos Ancient city is located 40 km away from the Western Turkish city of Uşak, which is a part of the Aegean area of Turkey.

Blaudus was established by the Macedonians, who stayed in Anatolia after Alexander the Great’s military campaign in the area. The Macedonian folk of the city called themselves the “Macedonians of Blaundus”. After Alexander the Great’s reign, Blaundos became part of the Kingdom of Pergamon, and later, was occupied by the Romans. The city reached its golden age in the Roman times.

The city of Blaundus is built on a vast plain surrounded by deep valleys and canyons, so it resembles a peninsula.

A temple, theater, stadium, rock graves, a colonnaded street and the well-preserved city walls are the most notable sites in Blaundos Ancient City.

Blaundos Ancient City is free to visit. There is no security so there are no specified visiting hours. You can visit it anytime, which we confirmed by calling Uşak Municipality, although, a signboard in front of the city entrance says that you can not visit the site after 7 pm.

Blaundos has a free parking lot.

There is no public transportation to Blaundos Ancient City. You have to go there with your own vehicle.

Story Of The Discovery of Blaundos

In 1834, British traveller and antiquarian, Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell, visited the area and made an elaborate drawing of the city. Here is that very accurate drawing.

Upon examining the coins found around Blaundos, Francis V. J. Arundell assumed he had found the ancient city of Klannudda (or Alaudda), which actually stands in the northernwest direction of Blaundos.

This inaccurate assumption was changed, when the British geologist, William John Hamilton, found inscriptions on a slab which said “Blaundeon Makedonon” in 1845. And it was clear that what Arundell had thought to be Klannudda was the ancient Macedonian city of Blaundos.

German researcher, K. Buresch, who visited Blaundos in 1894, reported that the Ottoman officers had used a considerable amount of the ruins of Blaundos for the construction of military barracks in one of the surrounding villages.

Arriving at Blaundos

When heading towards the city, a couple of hundred meters before the parking lot and the city entrance, there are two notable sites that you must stop to see. It is not possible to miss them since there are big sign boards on the sides of the road.

The Monumental Tomb

This structure is dated back to the second half of the first century C.E. It is the tomb of one of the important figures of Blaundos. The ruins of the tomb are quite dilapidated and covered with vegetation. However, it is still possible to see ornaments and stylish rock carvings on the broken pieces.

The Arch & Aqueducts

A couple of meters after the monumental tomb, on the right side of the road, there is a big arch. Behind the arch you can see what remains of the long aqueducts that once provided water to Blaundos.

The Ancient Theater

The ancient theater of the city was built on the side of the cliff, however, it is not possible to go all the way down the cliff to actually see it. You might be able to see the remains of it from the edge of the cliff top.

Exploring Blaundos

The City Gate & City Walls

The first two things that welcome you upon parking your car are the huge city wall and the big gate that once served as the main city entrance. It surprised us greatly to see that such high walls survived through the centuries and the harsh winds of the high plateu where Blaundos stands.

The Colonnaded Street

The surviving remains of the colonnaded street indicate that the city center was well-planned and constructed in a grid pattern. Only a few columns of the doric portico on both sides of the street survived.

The Demeter (Roman Name: Ceres) Temple

A couple of steps before the colonnaded street, on the right side of the trail, you can see the ruins of a huge temple. This is the Demeter Temple of the city. The dilapidated blocks and parts of the temple are scattered around. It is possible to see many rock carvings, patterns and ornaments on the broken pieces of the temple building. The marble floor of the temple is quite well-preserved. In fact, the marble slabs are still very smooth and shiny. If you roam around the temple and look carefully, you can still see some rocks with name Ceres (Roman equavilent of the goddess Demeter) written on them.

The Stadium

It is built on the northern cliff of the city. Aside from a few seating rows, not much survived through the centuries.

The State Building

Often called the Stonehenge of Anatolia, this is the structure which Blaundos is known for. It is thought to be the remains of what was once a state building where official affairs were discussed. Upon looking at the photo of the remains, I guess you can understand why is it called the Stonehenge of Anatolia.

Rock Graves Down In The Valley

When you reach the remains of the state building, with the main gate behind you, walk leftwards towards the edge of the cliff. There, you will see the rock grave rooms at the bottom of the valley. During the excavations, archeologists found dozens of rock grave rooms with well-preserved paintings of animals and plants in different colors on the walls.

Unfortunetely, going down the rock graves is almost impossible. The cliff is very steep and the ground is not that firm. What you can do is to simply enjoy the view from the top of the plateu where the city is located. Or, you might as well zoom in with your phone camera which can serve as makeshift binoculars.

Burj Al Babas was a project aimed to create a thermal resort town to attract Arab investors. What’s left of it now is a ghost town of over 500 unfinished Disney castle-themed houses in central Turkey.

What you’ll find in this article

• What is Burj Al Babas?
• Why did the project fail?
• A before and after comparison
• Where is Burj Al Babas?
• How to enter site?

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I recently took a day trip to this place and had a very interesting day exploring the hundreds of abandoned chateau houses that stand on a vast plain, somewhere in the mountains between two of Turkey’s largest cities, Istanbul and Ankara.

Let’s explore Burj Al Babas Complex, one of the most bizarre architectural disasters in the world.

What is Burj Al Babas?

Burj Al Babas is a great example of how a massively funded architectural project can turn into a real estate nightmare. $200 Million were spent on this site to attract rich Arabs to buy properties in Turkey. However, the project failed in 2019 and this area was abandoned completely.

The construction of the Burj Al Babas villas started in the year 2014 in the historic town of Mudurnu, in Turkey’s Bolu province. Mudurnu is a small settlement with a population of 20,000 and is ranked in UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. With a number of well-preserved Ottoman houses and ruins of a Byzantine castle, Mudurnu is a popular historical town. The residents of Mudurnu heavily opposed the project since they believed that it would damage the town’s reputation and historical fabric.

Initially, the plan was to build 732 luxury villas and, in fact, the company managed to build 583 of them. Besides the Disney-houses, this vast residential complex was planned to have a large mall with pools, a mosque, a hotel and many other features in it.

Why did the project fail?

At first the project seemed to have taken off successfully, with a handful of investors purchasing properties. However, the severe drop of the Turkish lira and the country’s unstable economic conditions gave the investors cold feet. Soon after, the construction company, Sarot Group, went bankrupt. And time here has since stopped.

A before and after comparison

BEFORE

When I checked the company’s website, I saw a project catalogue with the planned outcome of the project. Here’s how this place was planned to look like:

AFTER

Today, this well-funded project has turned into a vast ghost town with hundreds of uninhabited Disney castle houses:

How to enter the site?

Make sure you read this section carefully if you are planning on visiting Burj Al Babas.

I see that the visitors who come to Burj Al Babas quite often leave the area without managing to enter the site. Here’s the simplest explanation on how to easily visit this residential complex. The main road that passes in front of the area leads to the town of Mudurnu, which is the closest settlement to Burj Al Babas. This section is bordered with barbed wires, so there is no way of entering from this very spot.

What you have to do is to take a right from this very spot and get on to the dirt road. The road is a little bumpy, but even if you have a standard passenger car, as long as you drive slowly, you will not hit the bottom of your car.

Follow the road for about 3 minutes and park your vehicle at this spot. Then walk down for about a 100 meters from the path near you and you will find yourself at Burj Al Babas. There are no barbed wires, no security, nothing.

There is no easier or better place to park your car. I spent an hour trying find a more convenient place, so you don’t need to. Just go with my suggestion 🙂

If you are looking for a new and unusual place to explore in Turkey, Burj Al Babas is one of the best spots to hit the off the beaten path in Turkey.