I felt the urge to visit odd places, and an old Nike missile base seemed to fit the bill. But, I was quickly losing light on the only day that I could do this. Then the shortcut turned out to be non-passable, and the short hike turned into a 8-kilometre trek on steep hills. In darkness. And, somebody had removed the ruins. Trip ruined? Not quite, the moon and the sea were wonderful in the darkness.
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October 2019, Nike missile site SF-51, San Francisco, California, USA
Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Military)
Janne and I visited Castle Eger in Hungary (Egri Vár in Hungarian). I loved the sign, "no ballet dancing on the top of the walls"?
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August 2019, Castle Eger, Eger, Hungary
History; Urban-Exploration (Tunnels)
It is always nice to dip in to sea for a swim. Even if you're visiting an abandoned underground submarine base.
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August 2019, Ex. Yugoslavian military shelter for submarines, Rogačić, Vis, Croatia
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Bunkers, Harbours); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Underground, Water, Waterbody-Sea, Waterbody-Other)
The taxi drivers are a great information source. This time I asked about a hole in a cliff face, and got all the information I needed to visit it later. And it should be a safe place to go to...
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August 2019, Mali Hum Tunnels, Vis, Croatia
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Bunkers)
Having researched the locations of the Russian bunkers in Porkkala for years, I was surprised to learn the location of another bunker from Dutch tourists on their first day of visiting Finland. They pointed us to a small bunker few hundred meters from the large one we had visited earlier, based on their geocaching explorations.
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August 2019, Siuntion täytetty pikkubunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
The base is not easy to find; there's a lot of tours on sale to visit the military wonders of Vis, but little actual information. I discovered the location of the base by looking at Google Maps satellite photos, but the Secret Croatia blog also helped...
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August 2019, Vis missile base, Vis, Croatia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)
A maze of caves and underground prison cells, cages, darkness, fog, and Dracula? Sign me up please!
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July 2019, Labirintus, Budapest, Hungary
Caving (Man-Made, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Prisons)
I went on a long bike trip today with Jarmo, to explore the Sarfvik area in Kirkkonummi. This large area of farms, forests and seafront is blocked for public road access by the local residents. Why? You can still explore the area on foot, but the walks are long. But in the summer biking is an option.
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July 2019, Abramsbyn bunkkeri, Sarfvik, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Golfkentän pieni siirtolohkareluola, Sarfvik, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made, Rock)
A vacation isn't a vacation unless one can visit another nuclear bunker!
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July 2019, Hospital in the Rock, Budapest, Hungary
Caving (Man-Made, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
The museum of Communism's Achievements? Also known as the Museum of Terror... terrible stories about the killings, beatings, and imprisonments of the communist era. People who didn't follow the party line, or just happened to have a house that a party official wanted.
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July 2019, House of Terror, Budapest, Hungary
History; Urban-Exploration (Prisons)
Cave in a park in Philadelphia? Unreal...
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July 2019, Gorgas Creek Cave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Quarries)
I attended a workshop at a private corporate facility in Kirkkonummi, and it turns out that there was both a very nice sauna, swimming place, as well as ruins from the Russian occupation times: a railroad leading to a rock, almost disappeared harbour pier. Nice surprise!
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June 2019, Corporate Sauna, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool, Waterbody-Sea); Urban-Exploration (Ruins)
Today's abandoned mine exploration was in Leppävaara.
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June 2019, Kaivoskallion louhos, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Kaivoskallion siirtolohkareen alusluola, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Quarries); Caving (Man-Made)
While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice!
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May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-)
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May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made)
I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum.
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April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made)