To finish up for the last day of vacation - something a little different and what I think might be a first for me - a post in the Urban Exploration community.
It was a beach day for the last full day in Croatia before flying out tomorrow evening, and we decided to walk for 30 or 40 minutes to another beach named Kupari - the home of the abandoned hotels. These hotels were frequented by the Yugoslav military elite and had space for thousands of people. 1600 in the hotel and 4000 more in the camping area. They were built in the 60s through to the 80s before the wars, which lasted a decade from 1991 through to 2001 - making them very much within living memory.
During the wars, they were heavily damaged, but even after, the Croatian military used them until they were eventually abandoned, slowly being further destroyed by vandals, squatters and now, overgrown by nature itself.
They are massive buildings and I have never walked through anything like this before. I could have spent a day or two, but only had an our or two whilst my wife and daughter were swimming at the local beach, which these overlook. It was not enough, but I made a mad dash through, hoping to see what I could, capture what I could, and avoid falling down elevator shafts, stairs breaking away after being bombed, or cutting myself on the tons of shattered glass that piled everywhere.
The buildings were both beautiful and filled with sadness, where bullet holes from strafing fire would have targeted the places where people would have been sitting, eating, checking guests in. The rooms were of course trashed, but you can see that once upon a time, they would have been considered luxurious to many, though the styles have obviously dated heavily since they were built.
There was also a bit of a strange juxtaposition, as the beach outside is filled with tourists and locals alike, but these buildings just a stone's throw away, are empty, dark and imposing. I noted a couple of tourists wandering through some of the closer buildings, but none in the inner parts, or higher floors. It is not a place for kids of course, and good shoes are recommended, as though it isn't an overly difficult explore, there is a lot of junk. There is likely a lot of asbestos too, but falling down several floors over the edge of crumbling stairs is likely the bigger danger.
It was very sunny outside and around 30C, so it was nice to be in the shade a little, because there wasn't much of that on offer at the beach. There also wasn't much of anything else around there, which is strange for a tourist beach area, but I am guessing that it isn't the "go-to" place for most tourists, and the locals bring their own.
Wandering around for about an hour, it was interesting to try and imagine what was what and where, with it being relatively easy to tell the rooms, but the larger areas like the foyers and dining were so barren, they could have been anything. I am unsure why they have kept these buildings at all, other than historical significance perhaps, because it really is in a very good location. However, it is a demolish job, not a rebuild for these - there is far too much damage.
Even in the shade, it was sweaty work in the heat and I had cleverly not taken any water with me, so I was running out of energy pretty fast, yet pushed on as far as I could before getting back to the family vacation part, and a dip into the cool clear waters. You will see from some of the shots how it overlooks the beach and it is a bit of a surreal experience to look down at people playing in the water, from blasted out windows and missing walls.
I will leave it hear for now and let the next thirsty or so images speak for me instead. I took many more, but editing on the phone takes a lot of time to transfer and adjust even slightly, so I will post another when I get back home and will add them in a better sequence, to tell a clearer story. Hopefully though, these give a perspective of a past that is close enough for most around here to remember.
What did you think of those?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
