The Old Dog Presents: A Tale of Two Cities

in #travel5 years ago

Well that was wonderful and strange. We just got back from a few days of enjoying the thermal waters in Abano Italy. Would you like to see why it was both wonderful and strange?

Luxurious Surroundings and War Zone Like Areas. Side by Side!


We saw a tale of two cities on our recent visit to Abano, Italy .@lellabird60 and I stayed in a fabulous hotel with 4 thermal water swimming pools that varied in temperature from 28°C up to 38° C. In front of the hotel was a beautiful piazza with a fountain and other water features but then right next door was an abandoned and decaying hotel that showed hints to a distant glorious past.

Let's See The Nice Areas First!


This is the indoor pool from which you can swim into an outside pool.



Here is one of the outdoor thermal pools which was only 28°c so I had it all to myself!


 

A night time view of the front entrance of our hotel.


Here is a view from the balcony of our room. You can see the pedestrian zone and the fountain.

Now Let's Check Out Some of The Abandoned Buildings!


As we walked around the town we realized that this was far from unusual. Our own personal rough estimate showed that about 20% of the hotels, apartments and houses were also abandoned. What happened?


Here's the outdoor pool of one of the abandoned hotels near where we were staying.



This abandoned indoor pool was right beside our hotel! Kind of spooky!


Here Are A Few More Shots of Abandoned Places!


Maybe they're planning on fixing this one up. Who knows?



There were plenty of half and three quarter built places that had been left to decay!


So What Happened?


We tried to ask several locals what had happened and it seems that the mania of being sent to that area as part of a medical treatment prescribed by your doctor and covered by insurance is now over. There used to be many who traveled there from Northern Switzerland and Germany on Doctors orders but that is no longer the case. This led to many hotels, supporting structures and private residences going bankrupt!

Would I Still Recommend Going There? 

In short, yes! We still had a wonderful time and found it relaxing and interesting to visit there. Nowadays the vast majority of guests seem to be from Russia and so much of the signage can be seen in that language!


Here you can see that the menu in the Hotel we stayed in was also in Russian. Cool!



This sign outside of one of the shops was in multiple languages including Russian.


What About You?

  • Do you find it strange to see luxurious and abandoned buildings side by side?
  • Have you ever seen such a thing?
  • Do you know what really happened in Abano?


Thanks for following me on my travels and I look forward to sharing my adventures with you. 


Until next time,  


@kus-knee (The Old Dog)     

  

Let's Succeed Together!

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@kus-knee,
I have noticed one more thing, the hotel that you stayed also got less customers! I don't know what is happening out there! But it seems like travelers are not interesting to be there! Anyway nice photography and yeah you have found something very strange!

Cheers~

There were not many people there but I like that more!

Yes, I think it's really strange :-D

Have you been there?

Purtroppo troppe attività imprenditoriali vengono costruite e finanziate, anche con soldi pubblici, senza avere un piano di gestione che ne assicuri una convenienza. uindi molti falliscono e vengono abbandonati...è una triste realta

That seems like a good explanation!

Great photos, my friend and you are right, this is an amazing contrast between busy and abandoned places, of course immediately pay attention to this! Thank you @kus-knee

Thanks. It was so strange!

What an interesting place @kus-knee.

And yes I find it strange to see luxurious and abandoned buildings side by side. I have never seen such a thing.

I think the medical insurance explanation about what happened in Abano is probably the correct one.

I'd love to visit there. It looks really fascinating for me. 😊

Did you know it would be like this before you left or was it a surprise?

It was a complete surprise!

Sad to see that abandoned buildings. I also have nany examples in Hungary, but first, I have to find the photos in my archives. Other examples: sports facility buildings that built up for the Olympic Games, then abandoned some years later, like in Greece or Russia.
There is an article in Hungarian, the pictures tell all about that: https://olimpia2016.24.hu/olimpiai-hirek/2016/08/06/elhagyatott-olimpiai-helyszinek-a-nagyvilagbol/

Strange places!

Great. The pictures look amazing. I have heard about Italy and how it is filled with some beautiful buildings there in Italy and i still wished to go there one day later in the future

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It is an interesting place to be sure.

@kus-knee que le paso amigo a ese hotel que se veia tan espectacular una lastima que este abandonado

Everything is so extraordinary that it looks glorious too :D

Thanks for having a look!

It's so amazing swimming pool. If have chance to go down to pool wow...cheer feelings come to my mind. This visualization so impressive.

It was nice to be there!

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