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chandeliers Ballroom Grosvenor Room The Grand Hotel Birmingham Urbex Adam X Urban Exploration 2015 Abandoned decay lost forgotten derelict

Explore #139: The Grand Hotel, Birmingham – August 2015

After spending the night at a nearby hotel and enjoying some excellent Chinese food and much needed cold beers, it was another super early start the next morning. Our target: a huge Grade II* listed hotel with a truly stunning ballroom… History (from wiki) The Grand Hotel is a Grade II* listed Victorian hotel in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The hotel occupies the greater part of a block bounded by Colmore Row, Church Street, Barwick Street and Livery…

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Explore #43a (revisit): Chambre De Commerce (CDC), Antwerp, Belgium – May 2015

The ‘CDC’ former stock exchange in Antwerp was my very first European explore back in April 2014. I was in awe of other explorers’ photos before I was lucky enough to see it first hand, and it has remained firmly in my shortlist of favourite buildings ever since. I attempted a revisit later in 2014, but despite our best efforts we failed to gain access on that occasion. So in May 2015 when I heard that a new access was…

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Explore #117: Castle of Sammezzano, aka Non Plus Ultra / the Fairytale Castle, Italy – December 2014

Explore #6 of the Wet, with excitement Tour. The third and final day of our wintry long weekend in Italy was a traditional pre-dawn start. Our target: an incredible disused ‘fairytale’ castle… History (compiled and rewritten from here, here, and here) The Castle of Sammezzano was originally built in 1605 by Spanish nobleman Ximenes of Aragon. However, the castle truly became unique in the 19th century when Ferdinand Panciatichi Ximenes inherited the property, and over the course of nearly 40…

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