Meet The Man Who Has Lived Inside A Sand Castle For More Than 20 Years

King of the Castle

44-year-old Matolias lives in a sandcastle on one of the gorgeous beaches of Rio de Janerio. His impressive sandcastle has become something of a tourist attraction. Locals have even given him his own crown making him the king of his own castle. It is pretty impressive.

Boeing 747 Home

Before we show you Matolia's impressive sandcastle, let us show you a few other unusual homes. 64-year-old Bruce Campbell from Oregon turned an airplane into his very own humble abode. He rescued a Boeing 747 from a scrap yard and turned it into a liveable home for $218,000.

State of the Art Igloo Home

Winter sports enthusiasts Tashi Dorje and Vikas Kumar built a state of the art igloo home in India. They came up with the idea to offer adventure junkies a one of a kind hotel experience in Manali.

Time and Love

Now, back to Matolias. You can see from this video that he has an eye for detail and takes a lot of pride in his sandcastle. It is amazing to see him work on such an incredibly unique home. He also talks about the difficulties of living like this, but it does not seem like he would change it for anything in the world.

Warmth

Matolias says that his sandcastle is very warm inside. The sand holds in heat, so he is not able to sleep inside of it some nights. He will go sleep at a friend's house, but he prefers his sandcastle even if he has to go lie outside by the sea.

Maintenance

During the day, Matolias spends his time outside of the sandcastle home. It takes a lot of work tending to its structure and the outside. Because sand is not the strongest building material, Matolias spends a lot of time maintaining his castle. It has a makeshift wooden frame, but he has to water the turrets constantly to prevent them from falling on his 3x3 meter bedroom. His inspiration to build this sandcastle home came from a book that a friend gave him on Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi.

"King"

Matolias' sandcastle is filled with books and childhood toys. He pays for his food by running a second-hand bookshop from his castle. Matolias also loves playing seaside golf and entertaining tourists. He has embraced his nickname as "king" and even has a throne and scepter.

Inspiration and Detail

Matolias truly enjoys the work that he has to put into his castle. He is flexible and changes the design of his home regularly. He takes inspiration from Antoni Gaudi and creates some incredibly intricate, mosaic-like patterns on the exterior of his castle. He also experiments with tall turrets.

Living the Good Life

He says that he has always lived on the beach and wanted to continue doing so, but beachside property is incredibly expensive, so living in a sandcastle was the best alternative. He says, "People pay exorbitant rents to live in front of the sea, I do not have bills and here I have a good life."

"King" is truly living the life, isn't he? It kind of makes you want to grab your old sand toys and head to the beach.