Abandoned Places on Tenerife

We’ve already written about the leper sanitarium, built in the 1940s and discarded before construction had finished, but Tenerife is home to many other abandoned buildings and complexes. These modern ruins are a testament to human ingenuity, but also greed and short-sightedness; projects which were either once useful but now obsolete, or ill-conceived from the get-go. We explored as many as we could, and here are a few. We’ll post even more, later.

The Old Pumping Station of Gordejuela

Set in the cliffs near Realejos, this is an old water pumping station built by the British Hamilton company in 1903. With a superb setting and turn-of-the-century industrial architecture, this building is striking… probably even more so now that it’s half-collapsed. It lays along a popular walking path, and is completely off-limits. The whole thing looks as though the slightest tremor might send it tumbling into the Atlantic.

Hotel Neptuno in Bajamar

Like almost everything built in the 1970s, this red brick hotel on the outskirts of Bajamar is ugly. And I imagine it was abandoned for that very reason. The years of disuse had turned it into a total ruin, and a popular place for local teens to hang out and practice their graffiti skills. Recently, though, it’s come under new ownership, and plans are afoot to renovate and reopen the hotel, which has become an emblem of Bajamar. There’s a guard there, now, and we weren’t able to explore the grounds, but we did follow a cool path down to a beach popular with surfers.

– Also check out our URBEX post about Hotel Europa in Macedonia

Satellite Dish near Granadilla

This enormous parabolic dish, originally meant for use in a solar power plant, is just laying in the middle of an empty plot next to a road. It’s incredible for a few reasons — the first and most notable, of course, is its size. But also: who just leaves this here, like litter tossed from a passing car? Surely, a company had to be responsible for cleaning it up! And it must have still been able to serve some purpose. It’s a massive antenna! I mean, even I would probably be able to put it use in some way. I’m not sure how… but it’s fun to think about.

The Greenhouse near Punta Teno

When Jürgen and I drove past this massive, abandoned greenhouse nearby the Teno Lighthouse, he asked if he could go explore inside. “Definitely not!” This place is well on its way toward being reclaimed by nature, and looks absolutely dangerous. He listened to me, silently nodding and agreeing. And then the next week, drove back by himself and visited anyway.

His report: “Yes, it was awesome! But after a few minutes taking pictures, I looked up and saw this enormous, jagged shard of glass dangling right over my head… if there had been a sudden wind and it had fallen, I would have been killed for sure.”