History
(Courtesy of www.neverendingfootsteps.com)
(Courtesy of www.neverendingfootsteps.com)
Built in the late 1980s, the Hotel Monte Palace was intended to be the ultimate in luxury travel for the Azores: an island chain that hadn’t yet begun to attract tourists from outside Portugal. Back then, it was more expensive to fly from Europe to North America than it was to these beautiful Portuguese islands. Still, investors invested and builders built, and this 5-star resort was open for business in 1989. The large complex featured two restaurants, a bar, a nightclub, a hairdressers, a bank, and 88 rooms that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean or the twin lakes nestled in the caldera of the volcano.
Ironically, the Monte Palace hotel received the award for being Portugal’s finest on the same week that the hotel closed its doors for good.
Yes, just 18 months after it opened, the owners declared bankruptcy, and the building was left to the elements.
Rather than opting to immediately demolish the hotel, the owners placed a single guard and his aggressive dogs in the building to deter trespassers. For over a decade, it was near-impossible to enter the Monte Palace, unless you were willing to risk your limbs being attacked, so the building remained as it had always stood: a time capsule from the 1980s.
Eventually, funding ran out, the guard left, and the Monte Palace fell into disrepair.
Windows were removed, the elevators were stolen, beds and TVs and windows were taken, leaving behind a skeleton of a building that’s now covered in graffiti, broken glass, and piles of trash.
On The Day
(Courtesy of me haha)
So I had hired a car for the week I spent here so I drove around exploring everywhere, this was on my to do list, the weather was good unlike previous days and days after where it rained. Visibility was clear over the beautiful lakes and I knew getting there early in the morning there would be little chance of other people around and also I had read rumours of it being redeveloped (as these places always have "rumours of redevelopment) I wasn't too worried about it being a failed attempt. (Courtesy of me haha)
I had to climb over a small wall if I remember correctly and then everything from there was plain sailing, not much to report hence why I haven't untill now, everything in the building has been stripped its basically a large concrete shell with a beautiful view and lots of graffiti.
Anyways I hope you enjoy for what little there is, as said above I never even knew this website existed when I visited here so had no intention of ever posting it in this manner but this will at least get me on the ladder to which once this what is going on is all over I will be posting more at some point.
Also I apologise about the image size/quality again this was well before I got into anything to do with photography (a couple of months ago)
