Lost Place

Diamonds @ Kolmannskuppe

Ten kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz lies Kolmannskuppe, a ghost town in the Namib desert, once a small but very rich mining village, until no diamonds were found here any more. In 1908, in what was then German South-West Africa, the worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while clearing the railway tracks from sand. Soon after, German miners began to exploit …

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The Jermuk Spa

We made our way to Jermuk, where we went to explore the spa town which is known for its hot springs and mineral water which is also bottled in town under the brand Jermuk. Many hotels are waiting for tourists, others are not in use anymore, as we found some abandoned Soviet time buildings. We …

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The Soviet Grand Hotels of Tsqaltubo

Tsqaltubo is known for its radon-carbonate mineral springs, whose natural temperature of 33–35 °C enables the water to be used without preliminary heating for balneotherapies. The “Spring No. 6”, the largest thermal bath and still open, was built in 1950 exclusively for Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union at the time. The spa was especially popular in the Soviet era, attracting around …

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Belchite

A town completely destroyed during the Spanish civil war, any reconstruction prohibited by the dictator, the ruins left to remind us of the cruelties of warfare, that is Belchite el viejo. A new town was built next to it by captured Republican soldiers who were interned in the nearby concentration camp. Belitche is a place …

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Some Greek impressions

With not much to do during the lockdown, we enjoyed the Peloponnese in a very relaxed way, staying on each place a couple of days and exploring our surroundings on foot. First we found a little beach at an abandoned holiday resort near Porto Cheli (37.353256, 23.096413) from where we took hikes along the coast. …

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