Explore #26 of ‘The Picnics & Palaces Tour’

As we had cut out revisit of Beelitz short we still had a couple of hours to use before heading to the airport, so decided to pay a revisit to this former military hospital, crumbling away in some forgotten woodland…

History
I have not found much history of the hospital, other than that it served the vast Soviet army forces which were stationed all around this region from the end of World War II until shortly after German reunification in the early 1990s. It has lain abandoned ever since.

Our Explore
When James and I had first explored The Blue Hospital back in August 2014 we had run out of light, and I came away with just a solitary useable shot before we nearly got lost in the woods in the dark!

This revisit was a much more chilled out affair – having a few swigs of the last of a bottle of Havana Club which needed finishing before we headed home, and enjoying the afternoon light…


Cheers! 🙂


I love old peeling murals, and was delighted to come across a few in what was clearly a children’s ward…


It was great to be back in peeling paint heaven after the disappointment of the new paint job at Beelitz!


The East German and Russian flags give a glimpse back to the history of this part of the world…


Just slightly more light was available than when I photographed this chair last time!


Another peeling mural…


A mural of Lenin, now slowly decaying amongst the overgrowth…

Eventually it was time to go, and our epic tour of 26 different locations over 7 days finally came to a close. I know I will look back on the Picnics & Palaces Tour as one of my favourite European exploring jaunts – the scenery was beautiful, the weather was glorious, the locations were amazing, and above all the company was a great laugh. I’ll leave you with this ace piece of German hip hop which became the unofficial anthem of our trip… enjoy! 😛

Thanks
Adam X