"Right place at the wrong time"
My post today talks about one of the most Instagrammable views on the entire island. Unique place where we can align ourselves with the entire immensity of nature at once.
The peculiar way I start my post is no coincidence.
where I will tell you a true story about the place
The Monte Palace hotel, or rather, what remains of it today, is located in the most beautiful and emblematic place on the entire island, something so ambitious that it is currently abandoned. however, despite being private property, it is invaded daily by people trying to make the most of the place and its frontal view.
Out of curiosity, the entrance is a little difficult because there are many fence panels saying private property, all the people who pass by with the minimum of good condition find a way to get in, in my case I climbed a type of cedar that was on the wall and I climbed the wall inside "I was an outlaw😅"
Right at the entrance, a graffiti reveals what is expected, the best view, it completely do justice to the place!
The hotel was built on top of a crater of an extinct volcano strategically positioned to offer the best panoramic views over the lagoon, I would even say that it is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Portugal and without a shadow of a doubt the island of São Miguel in the Azores.
There, the color of the 2 lagoons (green and blue) is perfectly remarkable, as there is a legend told in a post below.
The Hotel actually opened in 1989, wanting to distinguish itself as a tourist reference, which according to history was very ambitious for the time.
With 5 floors and 88 rooms with balconies, 2 restaurants, bars, clubs, gardens and convenience store, and even a bank inside. The hotel's intention was to create a service so convenient that it was not necessary to leave the location, a kind of resort on top of a dormant volcano.
However, because it was so out of time and so innovative, the idea resulted in a real failure.
After 18 months of opening, the hotel closed.
It is said that one of the main reasons was its remote location, although the attraction of its excellent location caused its operating costs to skyrocket.
Furthermore, the Azores were not “so touristy” that such an immense amount of work could be justified, especially when the focus was on people with a lot of money.
Poor capital management and slower-than-expected tourist expectations caused it to decline, ceasing to be profitable and thus creating unemployment for a total of 130 people.
The group went bankrupt and in turn left it at the mercy of nature, reaching the state it is in at the moment.
The hotel is currently slowly deteriorating, in addition to vandalism, the humid and rainy climate accelerates the entire degradation process.
At the moment, apart from a lot of water infiltration, it is empty, with only small pieces of plaster remaining that fall from the ceiling and rubbish left by visitors, as well as broken glass in what used to be windows.
This ghostly appearance of an abandoned hotel attracts many curious people who, in addition to the views, investigate the hotel point by point as if they were urban explorers.
From tourists to professional photographers, no one remains indifferent and curiosity gives rise to the desire to enter (as in my case)
[//]:# (!worldmappin 37.83892 lat -25.79420 long d3scr)
In the photo above we can see that the building had balconies inside which I believe there was some type of event on the ground floor, almost as if it were an audience.
In the next photo we can imagine what the breakfast/lunch room would look like.
My objective was to simply go up to the highest rooms and be able to take those intriguing photos, however at the top of the stairs there was a direct exit to the roof and dozens of people were taking their photos, it was impossible to say which was feeling the best. Just check the 2 photos below
Out of curiosity and after a brief investigation, the hotel was put up for auction several times and was acquired in 2011 by an investor group. The main reason for us to remain abandoned continues to be the costs, but this time of recovery.
Finally, I believe that if the hotel starts operating soon it will certainly be a success because at the moment they have easy access to the place and there are many more ways to get to the island by car, bus and plane than in the past, just those who were more monetarily powerless could think about going to the place.
all photos were taken with canon2000D with 18/135 lens
Thanks for reading, see you in the next post