By LAWRENCE TAN
Next to Sol Kerzner’s Atlantis Hotel’s multimillion-dollar star-spangled grand opening party,
Turkey’s newest luxury shrine in Antalya, the Mardan Palace’s own party mirrors
the extravagance and decadence of the Dubai affair.
After all, this is one hotel that prides itself as
Europe’s most expensive luxury resort, built at a cost of $1.65 billion.
Hollywood A-listers the likes of Mariah Carey, Tom Jones,
Sharon Stone, Monica Bellucci, Richard Gere and socialite Paris Hilton
descended on the hotel’s palatial grounds – all of them VIP guests apparently
“flown over on private jets” by the hotel’s owner Russian billionaire Telman Ismailov,
according to a report in UK’s Daily Mail.
Amongst the glitterati, Carey got to do what Kylie Minogue
did for the Atlantis, and earned herself a handsome paycheck for her efforts,
on top of which includes “a gigantic
five-carat ring in the shape of a huge butterfly”, writes Ashley Pearson of the
Daily Mail.
Her performance capped what was a spectacular opening party
last Friday, in which 600 guests dined on top of the Mediterranean's largest
swimming pool, and were treated to a 30-minute fireworks display, Cirque de Soleil-style acrobatic and dance
performances.
The hotel’s Turkish
architecture has drawn comparisons to an Ottoman Empire relic, The
Dolmabahce Palace. To give you an idea of the opulence at the
Mardan Palace, consider the fact that suites cost up to £11,500 a night, and
2,500 tons of gold, 500,000 crystals and 23,000 square meters of Italian marble
were used in the hotel’s construction.
Most of the bathroom fittings in all the
suites are gold-plated, including the mirrors on the floors. Nine thousand tons
of white sand were imported from Egypt to create the hotel’s private beach, and
the hotel’s five-acre swimming pool, spanned by Leonardo da Vinci-designed
bridges, takes 30 minutes to cross it by gondola.
Photo credits: Getty Images, Rex Feature. Images are taken from the Daily Mail Online.
Mardan Palace