7 STRANGE Abandoned Places and Machines in Europe

"From deserted ships and fighter jets; to unbelievable forgotten buildings; these are 7 STRANGE Abandoned Places and Machines in Europe!

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7.Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre | Latvia

In the forests off the coast of the Baltic sea, a once top secret military installation is now open to the public. Well, saying its open to the public might be a bit of a stretch.

The site is referred to as VIRAC, but it was originally codenamed Zvezdochka, or Little Star in English. The centre was fully operational in 1974, and its main purpose was, you guessed it, spying on communications between western europe and the us.

By the 1990s, the satellites were fitted for scientific research, moving between government and private ownership thru the years.

At this point, there is conflicting reports on just how much of the site is still in use. One thing is for sure though, Irbene, the military town that housed Zvezdochka employees is completely abandoned. The town was not marked on any maps and it required special permits to access.

Can you imagine strolling thru the woods and accidentally stumbling on a fully functional town that no one knew about ? How would you react ? I want to hear from you in the comments section, don’t let me down :D.

6. Hephaestus | Malta

Near the Malta National Aquarium in St. Paul’s Bay, tourists can enjoy looking at some dope fish, aaaand the shipwreck of the Hephaestus Tanker. Which coincidentally ran aground near the St. Paul and St. Luke shipwreck that happened some 2000 years ago. On top of that, the Hephaestus wrecked on the day that Malta celebrates the Feast of the St. Paul shipwreck.

On a side note, the ship was named after the Greek god of fire and metalworking, who was also cool enough to be married to Aphrodite because Zeus wanted to prevent a possible war of the gods.

5. St. Demetrius of Thessalonica | Russia

4.Bila Tserkva Airport | Ukraine

Bila Tserkva is a somewhat unremarkable town located 60 miles away from Kiev. The town has existed in one form or another since the year 1032, it was originally named after Yaroslav the Wise, the current day name Bila Tserkva translates to White Church.

At the outskirts of the city you can find the soviet built White Church Airport. Just like many other airports built during the Soviet regime, it is in disrepair, some reviews on google maps mention that the airport could be great in the future, but for now, its a good place to learn how to drive !

It's unbelievable that the locals use this as a driving course considering there are about 35 Sukhoi Su-24 all weather attack aircraft just… parked there.

The whole facility looks abandoned, do you think it's possible that no one is even caring for these aircraft ? In this picture you can see there are covers over the engine exhausts so there's a chance these machines will be used in the future. But.. maybe that's not something we should hope for, considering the implications.

3. La Nostra famiglia | Italy

2. Rodalquilar Gold Mine | Spain

Next up, let's visit the so called lost gold mines of Almeria. Almeria being a region in Spain.

Sounds a little too mysterious, but you gotta get tourists any way you can these days.

This area of Spain has been mined for thousands of years, from copper and zinc to silver, there was plenty to go around for everyone. In the late 1800s, someone found gold deposits aaaaand everyone and their mom went crazy for it.

Between 1900 and 1990 many mines opened and closed, none of them were successful since the estimates for the gold reserves on the site proved to be very, very wrong.

The last mine in the area opened in the 1980s but by 1990 the site shut down completely, devastating the local economy along the way. By the looks of it, there aren’t any guided tours for the mines, essentially, you are on your own. Which is super cool, until you realize that if anything goes wrong, you are screwed.

1.MICHELANGELO DA VINCI | Italy"