This past week, Mike Powell and Juergen Horn suddenly came across the opportunity to become urban explorers in Macedonia. They were staying at a resort hotel near Lake Prespa and saw Hotel Evropa, built during the Communist era when Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia.
We spotted the Evropa while driving along the coastal road. It would have been impossible not to, because the building is monstrous. And at least for us, it was irresistible. When I say this place has been “forgotten”, I mean it. The Evropa is not “under new management” or “scheduled for demolition” or under any sort of protection, private or governmental. It’s simply there, totally deserted.
With nothing prohibiting us from doing so, we explored. The Evropa has been ransacked, everything of value stripped and stolen. We went up to the upper floors, into the hotel rooms, out onto the balconies, down to the lounge, and into the basement. I’m not given to panic, but while exploring this hotel, I felt the clammy hand of terror on my heart. Every time I turned a corner, I did so half-expecting to discover something gruesome. If I had been captured and subsequently tortured by some disfigured Macedonian maniac… it would have been awful, of course, but not all that surprising.
Of course, they took a ton of pictures of the crumbling resort. See the best of them at For 91 Days.