Tour Report: Iron Works II

On the third day of our summer vacation in August of 2017, we got up pretty early. Our plan for the day was to explore one more location in the Harz mountains before we left for Dresden, where we were going to spend the rest of our vacation.
Again, Jens from the Schlittenhunde Erlebniscamp had arranged a nice breakfast outside. It was sunny and the temperature was about 5 degrees Celsius - luckily, the coffee was nice and hot :)
After breakfast, we packed our stuff, loaded the car and drove off - but not before we had promised Jens to come back again on our way home from Dresden :)

The spot we had planned for the way was an old iron works in the mountains. It was right across the street from another location that we had visited the year before. At the time, we didn't have any time left to also visit the old iron works - but it remained on the list, so this time around, we took the time.

We parked on a publik parking lot a bit down the street and started walking along the fence. We had to be careful, because the spot is located right by the road, so it's really easy to be spotted by people passing by. Also, some of the houses that used to be part of the iron works, have been renovated and there are people living in them.
We found a hole in the fence and slipped in unseen. We managed to explore some of the buildings before we noticed people on the premises. They didn't look like fellow explorers, so we decided to abort our exploration and head back to the car.
Although it was cut a bit short, it was a nice little explore before a rather long drive to our hotel in Dresden.
We arrived in Dresden in the early evening and had a nice hearty dinner before going to bed - the plan for the next day was another long ride to check out three abandoned hotels in the mountains near the border to the Czech Republic, so stay tuned...


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

Tour Report: Knight's Manor W.

We had finished exploring the abandoned sanatorium as the first spot of our summer vacation tour in 2017. For the first two nights, we had asked for a place to sleep at the Schlittenhunde Erlebniscamp deep in the Harz mountains. Located on the large premises of another abandoned sanatorium, this wonderful place offers not only great photo opportunities on a really beautiful spot of land, but also the company of great people, good friends and - of course - the sled dogs!

Did I mention that there's a barbecue almost every night?

Anyway, we went grocery shopping to get some food and drinks for the night and drove up the mountain. We had a great barbecue and someone (I'm not telling who) broke out a bottle of Jack Daniel's; we went up to the trailer my wife and I were going to sleep in and started watching DVDs with documentaries about abandoned places.

At the end of the evening, the bottle was almost empty so that I skipped the idea of going for a night shoot in the old sanatorium - to be honest, I couldn't have taken another step ;)

I wouldn't have guessed, but I woke up bright and early the next morning to the rays of the sun creeping into the window, and since we had an appointment for a legal visit, we got up pretty quickly. Jens had prepared a fantastic breakfast - fresh rolls, eggs from his own chickens, fresh coffee - everything we needed to start the day!

We left the camp at about 09:30 a.m. to be in time for our appointment which was scheduled for ten o'clock.

The old abandoned knight's manor was an impressive sight to see while driving through the small village towards the high wall surrounding the place. We found a parking spot pretty close to the main gate where we were expected by a nice lady who told us a little bit about the place before giving us the key and leaving us alone to go about our business.

The main hall itself was worth the visit, but the place offered so many great sites to capture with the camera; it was really amazing, especially realizing that we were strolling through the halls that barons and baronesses have walked more than four centuries before we did...

After about three hours, we had finished exploring, gave back the key and left a donation for the association taking care of the mansion. We decided to drive back to the camp and relax for the rest of the day because we had a long drive planned for the next day.

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

Tour Report: Sanatorium F.

This abandoned sanatorium in the mountains of Germany was the first spot my wife and I explored on our summer vacation tour in 2017. We had left home relatively early to be able to fit in a short exploration before going grocery shopping and then drive up the mountain, so to speak, to the "Schlittenhunde Erlebniscamp" (Sled Dog Camp) where we were going to visit good friends and spend the first two nights of our vacation.

Since there was so little information about this sanatorium, we didn't really know what to expect. The usual questions arose: Was there going to be security? How tightly has it been sealed? Maybe it has been demolished? And what about the nighbors?

We found a public parking lot a bit down the road that looked inconspicuous enough - after all, this is a tourist area with lots of hiking trails, so two people with backpacks shouldn't look too suspicious. For added entertainment, rain had started just as we had arrived. On the good side, this led to almost no one except us walking around next to the road, and we could slip into the overgrown path without being seen.

There was no fence, the doors were open, and there was no sign of a security service patrolling the area. Access was really easy due to the open doors, and we started our exploration in the basement and worked our way up to the higher floors. After finishing the main building, we checked out the smaller adjacent building, before we walked back to the car to check out another place before heading to the grocery store.

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