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Ugliest city in the world is attracting tourists with its ugliness
Folks in Holland have named Charleroi, Belgium "The Ugliest City in the World." Not to be daunted, some of Charlori's town folk have embraced this less than pristine distinction. In a case of work with what you have instead of lamenting what you don't, they are offering tourists "urban safaris."
The tours take in all that makes Charleroi, a city surrounded by slag heaps, so darned depressing. You can climb on coal piles, see where renowned citizens who killed themselves or others once lived, and visit an abandoned factory. The first white female suicide bomber who blew herself up in Baghdad was from Charleroi, another detail presented on the tour.
These creative tactics seem to be working since the tours are booked through next month, according to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. Maybe one day, if the economy picks up, there will be different tours that highlight the places in Charleroi that used to be ugly before gentrification set in and ruined it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
guy Apr 1st 2009 9:17PM
I guess the most of the people in the Netherlands(the Dutch) have never been to Detroit.
Samantha Apr 1st 2009 9:20PM
Well put.
albert Apr 1st 2009 11:27PM
you are an idiot
Master Shake Apr 2nd 2009 12:39AM
There are tons of cities in America that are uglier than anywhere in Belgium, and if you think Detroit is bad, then you should visit West Oakland in California some time.
JJ Connolly Apr 2nd 2009 12:41AM
The look of a city is a reflection of its occupants...ergo Charleroi, Belgium & Detroit, Michigan ????
Gary Apr 2nd 2009 2:14AM
I used to work in Detroit and it is the ugliest city! How do people live there with all the homes boarded up and dirt every where.
LHOON Apr 2nd 2009 2:52AM
There are many commonalities indeed between Charleroi and Detroit, but the U.S. area where I found the atmosphere most comparable to Charleroi was in fact Northeast Pennsylvania, also an old mining region.
(Never been to Charleroi's namesake in PA though yet.)
Urban and industrial decay keep creating an unique atmosphere however.
AWC Apr 2nd 2009 3:20AM
What about Los Angeles? Talk about a hell hole!
djskyy Apr 2nd 2009 1:30PM
i've never been so I can't say much.
Amy Apr 2nd 2009 10:29AM
Detroit is far from the only urban area in our country that
may be considered "the ugliest city". And I'm sure many
of the war torn countries of the world are now far more ugly
than what we see here in our own country. Destruction
is all around us and that in itself is UGLY.
ernest Apr 4th 2009 11:11PM
The main article was OK, but the one in the pictures with the stupid laws overseas was really stupid, don't you think that America has stupid laws as well?
Check this link out and you'll see the weirdest and stupidest laws in the country we like to call home...
http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states