Mythical Cities

People are always looking for lost cities and occasionally one is found: Borobudur in Indonesia,
Machu Picchu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, for example. But perhaps some of the places
people look for never existed or did they? Here are just a few famous mythical cities.
El Dorado
El Dorado is a legend that began in 1537, when Spanish explorers found The Muisca people in the
mountains of what is now Colombia. They heard the story of a chief who covered himself with
gold and dived into a lake of pure mountain water. The story went to Quito and people began to
talk of El Dorado as a place, too city of gold and amazing riches. The Spanish sent many people to
look for El Dorado, but they never found it. Nowadays, the name El Dorado is still used to mean
a place where you can get rich quickly.
Atlantis
There was once an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, inhabited by people. It was the
legendary island of Atlantis. The people of the island were very rich, thanks to the natural
resources on their island. For hundreds of year, they lived simple lives. But slowly they began to
change. They started to become greedy and to want power. So the gods decided to destroy
Atlantis. Suddenly, the island and its people were swallowed by the sea and were never seen
again. Most people say Atlantis never existed it was just a story made up by a Greek philosopher,
Plato. But there are still people who look for it.
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a mystical kingdom that is hidden somewhere behind
the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Shambhala is a word from an old language that means place
of peace or place of happiness.