Pondering Buzludzha last night took me to another interesting abandoned site. I had no idea this place existed, let alone the dozens of other weirdly creepy ghost locations built in the last hundred or so years. This link explores odd little corners of the world.
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/the-10000-bedroom-nazi-hotel-that-was.html
Hotel Prora was the brainchild of Nazi Germany. Hitler wanted a place for German workers to vacation, a place fuelled by Nazi propaganda; part of a programme called “strength through joy”. Starting in 1936, 9000 workers took three years to build the world’s largest hotel. Stretching over 4 Km. along the Baltic Sea, 10,000 rooms face the water in eight buildings; cookie cutter copies – exactly the same.
They planned another four identical resorts, including facilities for cruise ships
Things didn’t go so well – not a single guest registered at the front desk. The place was abandoned; it housed some refugees after the war, small sections were used briefly by auxiliary female Luftwaffe personnel,the Military Technical School at Bundeswehr, and as an outpost for the East German army. Aside from 400 beds converted into a youth hostel in 2011 – it sits crumbling and vandalized.
All photos from amusingplanet.com
notestoponder 
This looks like serious fun… Now I know why I’m put off by holiday factories also known as ‘clubs’ – they are all modelled on this nazi brainchild which looks like a prototype of those ‘lovely’ camps they subsequently invented. These guys really were raving crazy.
In fairness, if they had known at the time that they were going to expand their borders, they could have build something more suitable on the french riviera, the Italian Adriatic coast or even North Africa. They were true visionaries…
I’m with you on the “all inclusive” vacation clubs.When I take a few weeks off I want to travel, not vacation.I can’t even imagine a week at Hitler’s dismal monstrosity.To think he planned four more of these boggles the mind.And how about a Nazi cruise ship – yikes!I highly doubt location would have made any difference – I suspect the Nazis lacked the characteristics required to deliver the “experience” these clubs strive for.got to admit – Nazi cruise line raised the bar a little.
A few years ago we went to Cuba and stayed for 3 nights in one of these vacation factories. It was beautiful, located along side dozens more just like it in Varadero.I’ll admit it wasn’t the worst thing in the world – at least not for a short stay. It could have been any tropical place in the world, indistinguishable from Mexico, Bahamas, or Jamaica When we moved on to Havana, Cuba came to life. It had depth, character, and history. My son, 19 at the time, said the experience changed him. He asked how people with so little could be so full of joy.That in itself made the trip worthwhile.
We’ve driven thousands of miles – across Canada,more than once, from our home in Vancouver to Chicago, down to Kentucky and back in a great circle route via Missouri, Kansas,Utah etc. Road trips to the Grand Canyon, Oregon coast, San Fransisco, LA – and not one of them via interstates or main highways. Not one road trip with hotel reservations or prescribed miles to travel in a day.We stop where and when we want, dig for fossils, look at the stars, explore cemeteries, visit cheesy roadside attractions, and go into sad little museums. It’s amazing! Even in London or Paris the same rules apply – explore, linger, and learn.
I’m with you on that. Cramming stuff into short break in a fabricated resort is like renting videos when you can have the real experience. Whenever I have to reserve something, like a hotel on arrival or even plane tickets, I feel I have lost something of the journey. That is when travel becomes vacation: canned and pre-meditated. Give me any no-destination trip and I’m happy.
PS: That is one hell of a tomahawk. Hopefully the rock was fake!
Almost forgot – a really short post from last year, while driving across the Canadian prairies.
🙂
I find it so odd that nothing useful has been made of these structures.
I know! This place is crazy. Perhaps the stigma of Nazi Germany has something to do with it.
Now that would make for good public housing!
I’ve seen projects in Chicago, St. Louis, and Paris more appealing than this train wreck. Holy crap, the place is ridiculous 🙂
Well, it needs a coat of paint, sure… but as emergency/temporary housing it’d be great.
I agree – it could be useful. Highly doubtful however that a coat of paint could ever make this place right.
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