Sights - this is one of the main reasons to visit another country or, at least, a neighboring city. But it also happens that famous places, visited by thousands of tourists every year, are actually fake. Introducing you top 7 most popular fake attractions in the world.
7. Sherlock Holmes Museum, England
Most people understand that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, but a museum dedicated to an ingenious detective cannot complain about the lack of tourists.
But while the Sherlock Holmes Museum is located on Baker Street and has a 221B address plate, the real address of the building is 239 Baker Street. The 221 number on Baker Street did not exist when the first stories about Holmes and Watson were released. Then the building numbers reached 100S.
6. Bran Castle, Romania
Bran Castle has long been associated with the ominous vampire Dracula, but reality is a completely different matter. Daddy Dracula, Irishman Bram Stoker, never visited Romania. It is believed that the description of Dracula's castle in the book was indeed inspired by the description of Bran Castle. However, the prototype of the famous bloodsucker was Vlad Tepes - the prince of Wallachia, who lived for a long time in the castle of Poenari.
5. House and balcony of Juliet, Italy
In fifth place in the ranking of fake attractions is the so-called "Juliet's house" with a balcony, on which the young heiress of the Capulet family listened to Romeo's love confessions. And in the courtyard of the house is a bronze statue of Juliet. It is believed that touching it brings good luck.
However, this pair of young lovers from Verona existed only in Shakespeare’s imagination. Moreover, the balcony scene is not part of the original story, because the balconies were not known in Shakespeare's England. In fact, Romeo came under the window of Juliet. However, even this does not stop tourists from visiting this false attraction.
4. Checkpoint Charlie, Germany
The Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin is a historically important place. It was the border between East and West Germany and during the Cold War was the only point of contact between the US and USSR troops. But the real checkpoint Charlie was dismantled in 1990, when the unification of Germany took place. And that checkpoint that exists now is a copy of the original. For added authenticity, fake soldiers stand at the checkpoint, who are always ready to take a proud pose for photos with visitors.
3. Shangri La, China
There are many places that claim to be the mystical paradise of Shangri La. In 2001, the authorities of Chzhundyan County in southwestern China decided to take matters into their own hands and changed the name of the county to Shangri La. Thanks to this tricky step, crowds of tourists flock to this false attraction. However, they do not lose anything, since Zhundian is famous for its beautiful emerald green forests, snow-capped mountains and many ancient Tibetan temples.
2. Bridge over the river Kwai, Thailand
Pierre Boule, who created the Planet of the Apes, is also known for his other book, The Bridge over the River Kwai. It tells about the construction of the railway in Burma, which during the Second World War were many prisoners of war led by Japanese invaders. In reality, the construction site was the Mekhlong River.
In 1957, based on the book, an extremely successful film of the same name was released, which caused an influx of tourists to Thailand. For their sake, the Thai authorities in 1960 changed the name of the Mekhlong River flow above the confluence of the tributary of the Khuen (which translates as "small tributary") to Khwayai ("large tributary").
1. Phila Island, Egypt
If you decide to go to Egypt to learn more about its ancient history, to admire the pyramids and mysterious hieroglyphs, you will not be disappointed. However, a trip to the island of Fila can be somewhat misleading. Once the island with this name was home to the temple, built in honor of the goddess Hathor and decorated with hieroglyphs that are more than 2000 years old. The hieroglyphs and the temple are real and have survived to this day, but the original island of Fili was threatened with flooding as a result of the construction of the nearby Aswan Dam. As a result, the temple was dismantled and then rebuilt literally brick by brick on another island. Therefore, the attraction that is now called the island of Fili, was formerly known as the island of Agilkia.
