Meet Haludovo Palace, the original palace of sin and often called the most extravagant resort on the Adriatic ever.
It all started at the end of 1960s, when the founder of the Penthouse magazine Bob Guccione visited Krk and chose the town of Malinska to house a new resort, one that would be composed of luxurious hotels and a grand casino, catering to guests’ every imaginable need.
Apart from a casino, there was a golf course, a bowling alley, a fishing village and a sports bar. On the other side of the palette of activities, you could find a beauty center with a masseuse ready, pools, beaches, saunas, and a medical center for the odd occasion when the sumptuous living took its toll.
The place was drenched in hedonism and taught the guests the art of living: people were feasting on lobsters and caviar in unholy quantities and guzzled champagne like it was water. That’s not even meant as a bad joke: one of the hotel pools used to be filledΒ with champagne, and while there are no photos to confirm the story, it matches the all-around ambiance of the place. We’ll stick with the legend.
Such a decadent lifestyle proved hard to maintain, and it didn’t take more than a year before the hotel couldn’t stay afloat anymore. After investing $43 million (the 1970 equivalent of today’s $250 million), Guccione soon went bankrupt. Haludovo kept operating for another twenty years, finally dying down with the start of the Homeland war in 1991. In the early 90s, the hotel was vacant as no foreign guests in their right minds would come to vacation to a war zone, so the place was turned into accommodation facilities for refugees. It is abandoned since 2001.
Unfortunally I couldn’t make all the pictures I wanted because my battery run empty, next time better!
The complete history of Haludovo Palace can be found here: https://sometimes-interesting.com/2016/04/14/penthouse-adriatic-club-at-the-haludovo-palace-hotel/
