Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Abandoned places

Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.
- Jean Paul Sartre

It may be that there are more formerly inhabited places than currently inhabited places. The USA is lucky in that most abandoned places are abandoned for reasons other than a war swept over the place. Cyprus isn't so lucky, nor are a lot of other places.

There is an astonishing set of pictures of a dozen or more abandoned cities. Abandoned recently, not a thousand years ago. Well worth your time, in a bittersweet there but for the grace of God sort of way.

4 comments:

Paladin said...

That link is amazing.

Bob said...

Good stuff there. The Dark Roasted Blend website often features such places, including an awe-inspiring Russian lighthouse that is abandoned now because of radiation hazard.

wv: dupelato = Italian ice cream made for the gullible.

Tangalor said...

Regarding Pripyat, Ukraine.

The Discovery show "Life without Humans" (or some such) had a bit about that town. The deer population was tremendous, and healthy after breeding out most of the radiation-caused birth defects.

ASM826 said...

For about two hours last night, I wandered from site to site looking at abandoned places, factories, military bases, and the like. The most interesting thing I found was some YouTube videos of Detroit and some urban explorers that went into abandoned car factories and skyscrapers. Now I find this post and even more pictures.

But the synchronicity is a bit much.