FASCINATING SMALL TOWNS ACROSS THE WORLD

There are millions of small towns all over the world. While a lot of them seem to be pretty boring, there are some that are just fascinating.

Great Big Story travelled far and wide to the world’s most fascinating small towns, and there are some amazing places out there.

If you travel two hours by boat from the coast of Colombia, you will find Santa Cruz Del Islote. It is the world’s most densely populated island, with just over 1,200 people living on an island that’s roughly the size of two soccer fields.

On the island they’ve got two shops, one restaurant and a school that goes up to tenth grade. With no running water on the island and a generator that only runs five hours per day, it might not seem like paradise to most people.

But, for those living on the island, it’s heaven. All of the people on the island know one another, which is a good thing since there’s no police around.

The island used to be a place of shelter for fisherman during storms. Some of those fishermen decided to stay and settle on the island. The rest is history.

Coober Pedy in Australia is a small town that’s mostly located underground. It’s a 24-hour trip from Adelaide, so even though it might not be visited by a lot of tourists, it’s still fascinating.

Without outside temperatures easily reaching upwards of 50 degrees Celsius, it’s easy to see why the locals decided to build their houses underground where they enjoy temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius.

There are about 1,000 underground houses with at least 15,000 people living in them. They have kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms and all the normal things a house above ground will have, but obviously no windows or grass. Some of them even have pets.

The houses aren’t the only buildings underground in Coober Pedy. The town has underground hotels, churches and even a nail and beauty spa.

Watch the Great Big Story video below for more on the fascinating small towns from all over the world.

Image credit: South Australia