Tour Report: Hotel "Rosary"

This abandoned hotel was a totally accidental find and became the second spot on my tour with Pixelcracker in October of 2017. We had just left the first location and were walking back towards the car. I was about to light a cigarette, when we spotted a building that did look a bit abandoned. Don't ask me what made me look, but after some years of exploring, you don't even have to be explicitly looking for something, but you find it anyway ;)
It was another hotel. The sign out front looked dirty, the lawn hadn't been cut in some time, and the facade had seen better days. But all the windows were intact, there was no obvious way in. We were in a bit of a hurry because we still had a bit to drive to our destination and we wanted to get some groceries before driving up to the mountain.
But we took the time to check a little more, and we found an open window.
Once inside, we were surprised. The overall condition of the hotel was really good. There was almost no visible decay or vandalism. It was obvious that some "interior decorators" had been there before us and possibly some stuff had already been stolen, but it did look pretty good.
And that was also my problem. I really don't like spots in pristine condition. I gotta have decay, mold, rust, flakes, stains - and this place didn't have that.
Of course, I did take some photos, it was an accidental find and there was no vandalism - these things made this a successful explore, but the spot itself wasn't really spectacular.
At the time, we decided not to explore the second building adjacent to the first one because the hour was getting late, but later I saw that there was a pretty neat pool area that we'd missed...
Well, next time :)


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Tour Report: Hotel "Teddybear"

I had heard stories of angry neighbors calling the police as soon as you enter this place - but when I got to visit this abandoned hotel on a spontaneous tour together with my friend Pixelcracker in October of 2017, everything went smoothly.
Only two days earlier, we had decided to go for a three-day tour in Pixelcracker's RV. I called my friend Jens if it was possible to park the RV on his premises for the two nights we planned to stay, and he was okay with that. The next evening, I packed my gear, loaded the batteries, and the next morning, I met with Pixelcracker for a weekend of adventure!
We had decided for the abandoned hotel as our first location because it was conveniently on the way, so we wouldn't have to take a long detour and be in the camp in time for barbecue. Additionally, the place seemed to be a pretty safe bet to gain access - aside from the horror stories about the neighbors.
Before we arrived, we took our time to study the area on Google Earth to find a way to approach the building without looking too suspicious - preferably we'd not be seen at all by any neighbors. But that task seemed impossible to accomplish, because the hotel lies right at the end of a street in a densely populated residential area...
We had to "disguise" ourselves as tourists to blend in. We parked the RV a long way off, took our backpacks and started making our way towards the old hotel. The weather was really nice, so we probably did look like some tourists going for a hike. We took the longer way that didn't lead straight to the hotel, but enabled us to approach the building through the forest without being seen by the next-door neighbors.
It took us some time to find a way in, but we eventually made it and found a really nice place. Of course - many "interior decorators" have taken care that almost no furniture is left in its original place, but surprisingly enough, the vandalism hadn't really started at that point in time.
We took our time checking every single room and taking photos. We must have spent about three hours in there before climbing back out and heading towards the car.

I hadn't even lit my "post-exploration cigarette" when I spotted something...

...but that'll be a story for the next report :)


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Tour Report: Neo-Gothic Castle P. [Revisit]

We had spent a couple of hours exploring the abandoned bread factory together with Pixelcracker and his wife, but there was still some time left for a quick exploration to top off the day, so to speak.

We decided for the efficient option and chose a spot that was located on the way home - an abandoned castle from the 1850s. I had visited this place once before in 2013, and I was interested what more than four years of decay had done to it.

There was a possibility to park out front and access the premises, but we didn't want to take the risk of being spotted, and we parked the car pretty far away and walked the rest of the way. At some point, we found a small trail through the woods surrounding the castle. The trail led to a hole in the fence, and we were able to enter easily.

The castle wasn't spectacular the first time around. The former owner had started renovation but then stopped after more or less gutting the whole thing. A lot of the original walls etc. had then already been removed. This time, it was worse. Vandals and probably local teens have destroyed a lot of the remaining things - but there still were a few nice shots to be taken.

I especially liked the old kitchen range covered in rust and moss that we found in the woods. We checked out the castle as far as we could - many of the floors are very unsafe to step on! - and then we started with the newly constructed buildings that were supposed to be part of the planned holiday resort that was to be built on the premises with the castle at its center.

Lastly, we checked out huge old cattle stables that had probably been built in the 1950s. After that, it became too dark to go on exploring, so we made our way back through the woods and towards our cars before heading home.

To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.

Tour Report: Industrial Bakery N. [Revisit]

About four weeks after our summer vacation in 2017, we were really hungry for another exploration, so we planned a spontaneous tour with our friends from Lost Places of Pixelcracker. We only had time for a one-day excursion, which is why we chose to explore two spots that weren't too far away. I had explored both spots before, so we could be relatively sure that they wouldn't be locked down and were open for exploration, so to speak.
The first spot was an abandoned bakery that I had visited almost exactly to the day three years before, and I was curious to see what these years had done to the place.
It is located right in the middle of a residential area, so we parked a little out of the way to not arise any suspicion, and walked up to the main gate. It was open.
Three years before, the yard was being used as parking lot by a trucking company, but we couldn't see anybody around.
There were no signs that forbade the entry, so we just walked onto the premises and quickly found the access into the buildings.
Not much had happened since my first visit. The few relics that I had seen then were still there - only the decay and the graffiti had become more over the years.
No one was around except us, so we took our time to explore the entire place from bottom to top - and it was good that we did, because we found the access to the basement that had eluded us the first time around. The basement had a lot of relics from the time when the factory was still operational, so we found a bunch of interesting details.
Towards the end of our explore, we took a quick selfie and walked back to the car and drove off to the next location.


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Tour Report: Hillside Hotel

The abandoned malt factory had been the final spot on the main part of our summer vacation in 2017. For the way home, we had planned to spend one more night at our friend Jens' place and take some night shots at the abandoned sanatorium in his backyard.
So we spent one more night at the hotel in Dresden before packing our stuff the next morning. Next to a few breaks to smoke a cigarette, we made exactly two stops.
The first one was to pick up a few cases case of really nice Schnapps made from bread that we had discovered in Leipzig two years earlier. It's called "Brotschnaps" and if you're interested, you can check it out here.
The second stop was an abandoned hotel in a small toon in the mountains that we had our eye on as a nice little explore on the way.
As we arrived, we parked the car a few hundred meters down the street and walked the rest of the way. There were no fences or signs of any kind, nobody was around, so we quickly walked onto the premises and found cover behind some bushes before starting to look for a way in.
The abandoned hotel consists of four main parts: The old main building that has a wooden structure, the newly-built annex constructed of stone, and the indoor pool whose roof had already collapsed, make up the main hotel. A little off to the side is a small house which was probably used as accommodation for the hotel's employees.
We started checking the main building and quickly found a way in. The first couple of rooms that we found looked promising, but a fire had scorched part of the building - including the stairs to the first floor. We decided not to take the risk at that point and went on to explore the annex. It was completely empty and looked like it was supposed to be refurbished, but work had stopped after stripping the rooms. The only thing to see there was some nice light and a bit of green in the rooms.
Eventually, we left the main building and turned our attention towards the small house a little up the hill. Gaining entry wasn't as easy as we had hoped, but with a little acrobatics, we made it safely in.
The place was a real highlight, most of the furniture was still there and seemed to be relatively untouched.
All in all, a nice little "en-route-exploration". I was a little annoyed that we chickened out and didn't walk up the scorched stairs, but I convinced myself that it was the right thing to do.
This conviction only held for about six weeks, when I returned for a revisit. But that's another story.


To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.