Grand Opening Of The Mardan Palace
The Mardan Palace in Antalya, Turkey must be seen to be believed. It has been built by Russian billionaire Telman Ismailov who spent more than £1billion on this project, making it the most expensive hotel in Europe.
Champagne costs £25 a glass, toilets are remote-controlled, guests select linen and pillow firmness from a ‘pillow menu’ alongside each bed and the private beach has been created from 9,000 tons of the silkiest white sand imported from Egypt.
The hotel itself – where suites cost up to £11,500 a night – is fitted out with 2,500 tons of gold, 500,000 crystals and 23,000 square metres of Italian marble.
The pool is a full five acres of sparkling blue water, across which guests can take gondola rides that take 30 minutes.
In the middle of the pool sits a sunken aquarium with 2,400 fish, so you can literally ‘swim with the fishes’ (including sharks) – albeit on the other side of a thick wall of glass.
Meanwhile, the waterside Italian restaurant (one of 11 on site) is stocked with Hermes crockery worth £1.35million.
Of course, if you’re going to spend a vast fortune building a place like The Mardan Palace, you might as well start with a bang, which is why Ismailov chose to fly in superstar songstress Mariah Carey to perform at a rumoured cost of £1m along with Tom Jones as the opening act.
They are both on hand to entertain VIP guests including Sharon Stone, Richard Gere, Seal, Monica Bellucci and Paris Hilton, who have all been paid to attend and flown over on private jets for a blacktie party set to last for three days.
Posted on May 27, 2009 | Filed Under Travel
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[...] in May I looked at the grand opening of the Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya, [...]