Berlin has a grungy side. Sure, the massive Unter den Linden and sky-high TV Tower and bustling Potsdamer Platz provide all the highlights of a gleaming metropolis one would expect, but should you get under the city's skin, you can find all kinds of unexpected sights.
It's no surprise that a city as rapidly changing as Berlin has a fairly large number of abandoned structures. Industries evolve, businesses fail, and investors come and go... and along the way, buildings are forgotten and left to rot. This has happened enough times that there is an entire blog named Abandoned Berlin dedicated to the subject. Its author has dedicated himself to visiting and photographing any empty husks still standing in the city. After having seen the Brandenburg Gate one too many times, my friends and I decided that reading Abandoned Berlin wasn't enough, and we headed to a (safe, accessible) structure that he documented in one of his posts. Sarah and I had already visited an abandoned train station before, so we even had some relevant experience under our belts.
Our destination was an abandoned swimming pool complex that opened in 1985 and closed in 2005. Some day it will all be torn down and turned into fancy new apartments. But until then, Berlin's urban exploration enthusiasts are visiting it on the daily just to see, photograph, or graffiti the interior. The entire area was hardly even fenced off - anyone can walk right in, and lots of normal, curious people (even entire families) were doing just that when we arrived, which is why we stuck with our plan to check the place out.
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| Watch your step! |
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| Lots of visitors means lots of graffiti |
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| On the roof |
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I had my American friends Sarah and Tony with me
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| The pitch-black basement was the creepiest part. My camera's flash revealed that more of the same - dilapidated swimming facilities - was all that lurked in the shadows |
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| Need a lift? |
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| Parts of the interior are exposed to the elements |
We made it out incident-free, as expected. I have always found abandoned buildings to be fascinating subjects for photography. Of course, it's preferable if they are undisturbed and not coated in graffiti, but we still liked what we saw and I'm happy I finally got the chance to document an urban exploration trip.
I followed that experience up a few days later with a more conventional trip to Berlin's botanical garden.
It wasn't long before I hit the road again - this time, I packed my bags and drove off to Poland again. Photos are coming right up!
