I always seem to come across abandoned buildings — I think you get an eye for it, and especially because I often move around, and so when I first

arrive somewhere new I have no friends so I just walk around for hours and come across things. The odd one out here is the last one, Varosha,

because it is morbid, a war-related abandonment. The stories behind the others are milder.

School, close to Oviedo in northern Spain

Items I found there, like stickers (pictured) and yoghurt pots, date around the 80s/90s, so I guess this could be when it closed.

I guess I didn’t take a good photo because I can’t find one, but the school had its own chapel in the assembly hall, complete with a confessional and sort of cheap

70s-style stained glass windows (with serpents!).

Hotel & Chinese Restaurant, Switzerland

I passed this while I was cycling around Lac Leman. Ran an image search and the magazine is from 1988!

The wallpaper, carpeted ceiling & walls are certainly very 70s. The chefs calendar is from 2003.

Priory in Cupar, Scotland

It wasn’t really a priory, but the second home for some minor nobility; they let it go to ruin (not before it one hosted an office?!)

Varosha, Cyprus

This one is deeply sad, because its abandonment was due to armed conflict. So it’s a painful place to visit.

This ghost town, once a thriving tourist area, is part of Famagusta in the north of Cyprus, which is under Turkish occupation.