Piran is a medieval town on the coast of Slovenia. A wonderful town, clearly retaining its historic parts. The protective walls of the city date back to the 7th century, and can be toured for a nominal fee. Much recommended.
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July 2023, Walls of Piran, Piran, Slovenia
Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles); Flying
On our tour of Slovenia's Piran, we also peeked on the Croatian side, and had a swim in the Polynesia Beach in the town of Umag. Little did we know that the ruins we started our swim from were actually the ruins of the Sipar Castle from A.D. 1000 or thereabouts. Some have even called this place the Atlantis of Sipar. Interesting!
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July 2023, Polynesia Beach, Umag, Croatia
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Water, Beach); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles)
This tunnel appeared on my walk while visiting Rotterdam. I was walking from my hotel to the conference venues, as a like to do to keep my step counts up :-) And as one expects, there are some waterways to cross in the Netherlands cities :-) I thought there'd be a bridge though. But no, it was a tunnel. It was only in the tunnel and later in Wikipedia that Maastunnel is actually 1070 meters long that crosses the Niewwe Maas.
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May 2023, Maastunnel, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Urban-Exploration (Tunnels)
We visited an old, not so big, but quite famous bridge in Finland. This used to be on the main road, but since the opening of the highway from Helsinki to Tampere, it is no longer getting as much traffic as before. The bridge is still beautiful, though.
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May 2023, Sääksmäen silta, Valkeakoski, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bridges)
It does look very weird. For some reason I thought it was a water tower. It is in the town of Oberreid in the Black Forest area in Southern Germany, near Freiburg. But ... it is in fact a defense against against nuclear weapons and natural disasters...
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May 2023, Barbarastollen, Oberried, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Towers)
In the Kalemegdan park / Belgrade Fortress there's also a bunker. This is a bunker Tito ordered to be built, and it was constructed in early 1950s. It has two gun ports (now closed), and it is today an open museum that you can visit.
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May 2023, Belgrade Fortress Bunker, Belgrade, Serbia
Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Military, Bunkers)
It is an imposing, massive castle on top of a high hill. Worth a visit!
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May 2023, Burg Hohenzollern, Hechingen, Germany
Urban-Exploration (Castles)
Dockyard Garden is an old dry dock in the Yokohama harbor, cornered between some of the highest skyscrapers in Japan. Doors have been cut to the sides of the massive rock walls protecting the dock, to build access to nice restaurants at the bottom.
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March 2023, Dockyard Garden, Yokohama, Japan
Travel; Urban-Exploration (Harbours)
Only in Japan: They have a "candle lending service" at cave. And it is not like it is a dark, lightless place even without the candles - the Enoshima cave has lighting, but obviously the candles are a remarkable addition to the experience. On the other hand, since the candles are actual candles with actual fire, there is now a need to have a fire alarm system, if somebody accidentally sets the cave on fire...
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March 2023, Enoshima Island, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya Cave, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya Cave 2, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya mini cavelet 1, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya mini cavelet 2, Fujisawa, Japan; Shinto Shrine, Fujisawa, Japan
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion, Showtour); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion); Hiking; Travel; Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites)
We had heard a rumor of a potentially previously unknown bunker in Siuntio. Let's call it the Hoivakodin Bunkkeri (Retirement Home Bunker). It turned out to be accessible -- if you don't mind passing through pieces of concrete hanging by rusting, twisted rebar. And it was a massive one! Another ZIF-25 model bunker, i.e., a two-floor bunker with several entrance tunnels and a side mountain gun port.
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March 2023, Hoivakodin bunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
I saw something today that I didn't realize actually existed in our neighborhood. It takes maybe half an hour for me to get from where I live to Siuntio, and there's a nice castle, the Sjundby Castle (or Manor). It was built starting from 1417, by the rapids on the Sjundbyån river. It is not open to the public so maybe that explains why I haven't heard about it.
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March 2023, Sjundbyn linna, Siuntio, Finland
Urban-Exploration (Historic, Castles)
Wiesliczka is a suburb of Krakow. Under it is a massive salt mine, extending to a depth of approximately over 300 meters, with the total length of labyrinth passages spanning over 287 kilometers. The use of the site dates back to the 13th century, where the locals would harvest salt from brine (salt concentrate) wells dug on the wetlands. Later in the same century the wells started to be extended as deeper mine shafts and tunnels. Wiesliczka is not just a mine, it is a massive underground world and site of art and history. It is also a well-deserved UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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January 2023, Wieliczka Kopalnia Soli, Wieliczka, Poland
Urban-Exploration (Mines); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock-Other, Showtour)
We went to the Krakow Museum of Communistic Poland... it wasn't open, and neither is communism. Would have been very interesting to tour this, but oh well.
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January 2023, Museum of Communistic Poland, Krakow, Poland
Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites)
There's a castle at the Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade, the Belgrade Fortress.
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December 2022, Belgrade Fortress, Belgrade, Serbia
Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Military, Castles)
I've been here before, but a refresher course is always good, plus I have the next generation with me, useful course for him as well. The Prague's communism and nuclear bunker tour is a good reminder of what oppressive things went on during the eastern block years in Czechosloakia and elsewhere. Fortunately, those times are past us. But in 2022, you can still feel the nuclear-bomb threats being made ... you guessed it, from the east.
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July 2022, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic; The Cold War Museum, Prague, Czech Republic; KGB Museum, Prague, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Travel
I had an opportunity to visit castles in Czech Republic this summer. The first one we went to was Hrad Trosky, the ruins of an amazing two-tower steep clifftop castle. What a magnificent, for defense business -only castle! The second castle, Hrad Kost was a more full-service one, and was used as an administrative base. With a torture chamber, of course. (Is there any other kind of administration???)
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July 2022, Hrad Trosky, Rovensko pod Troskami, Czech Republic; Hrad Kost, Libošovice, Czech Republic
Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Castles)