Hello, my friends. this is my first post in the urban exploration community despite being here for a few months watching and admiring other members' posts. When I discovered the community I was completely ignorant of the urban exploration term and was impressed by the posts of some of the members. I thought that I can also explore and photograph old abandoned houses and through my photos to capture the hidden stories behind them.
With a brief search on the internet, I discovered that Athens, the city where I live, has about 4000 abandoned buildings but unfortunately most of them are sealed and no entry is allowed. During my photo walks, I started to observe these buildings but most of the times I couldn΄t get in because either it was closed and there was no entrance other than the main one that was locked or because it was very crowded outside and I could not get in without anyone seeing me.
A few days ago I went for a swim on a beach in the Alimos of Athens and although the beach was a bit crowded, the area smelled of abandonment. Behind the beach, there were two abandoned beach bars that testified that a few years ago this beach gathered many more people who had a good time swimming and having fun under the sounds of music, drinking cool cocktails, and enjoying the carefree summer.
I thought this was my chance for my first urban exploration and I wasted no time. I took my camera and started exploring. The first bar was built of stone and in some places, it was painted with a blue-green color which is my favorite color. There were two outdoor bars, a kitchen with the shutters down, many small changing rooms, toilets and some other small rooms that I discovered while discovering that homeless drug addicts live inside because there were mattresses on the floor.
The atmosphere was somewhat depressing and smelled of urine everywhere. There were also some clothes on an airer so I made sure that someone was living there. I was in a dilemma if I should try to explore the indoor of the beach bar and when I tried it, a huge guy opened the door and asked me what I was looking for there. I explained to him that I like to take photographs of abandoned buildings but he didn΄t let me in, saying that this building is not abandoned and he lives in with his family. So I decided to try my luck at the next bar which was also abandoned and the passage of time has left its mark even more strongly.
Outside there was a large bar with plenty of empty plastic bottles inside, the DJ space and a few discarded tables and chairs left over from the time the beach bar was running normally.
This time I was luckier and found a way to get inside the bar through a small crevice you see in the photo below.
Entering through the small hole I discovered, I noticed that in this place, although abandoned, the human presence was intense but fortunately its inhabitants were missing at that time. The interior was operating like a nightclub and inside there were many discarded items and furnitures.
I think drug addicts live in this area because there were boxes of drugs everywhere.
There were also a lot of old cell phone chargers there which surprised me but later I thought they might contain copper as well as other cables.
a large candle hung from the ceiling for the current residents of the club to see at night
I also found a rifle stock there.
at the back of the club there was another outdoor area where customers had fun while the club was still open. And there were a lot of discarded things and it smelled very bad
So that was for today, as I told you this was my first exploration and my feelings were mixed. I do not hide from you that sometimes I felt scared, such as when this huge guy came out to ask me what I was doing there or when I was in the second bar, I was afraid that at any moment someone could come in. Except from fear I also felt the excitement of exploring and that made me keep going. Thanks for stopping by I hope I will find again an abandoned building and capture even more beatiful pictures. I will finish my post today with a photo of an abandoned old car which was near the second club I explored. See you at my upcoming posts.
