#1 is tourist attraction, it just looks abandoned ;)
But the parts of graffitis and little tiny deers are adorable ^^
There are lots of abandoned Soviet missile bases, airfields and other structures in the country i live in. Some years ago few epic places were destroyed.
Memories?
I've spent few nights in army bunkers where were pink colored walls in some rooms.
And yisss, the epic scale of exploring - local map publisher decided to mark these places with red stars (dunno how long ago they started to do it). I was only 15 years old when i had my first travels around the country and to neighbour countries to see any kind of these former military ruins.
Hmm, what else. There's one former military airfield in my hometown. Some years ago i was learning to drive a car there. I was scared that i would miss and run into some of those bloody tiles which have some metal fillings exposed.
Ohhhhhh,
recently i went to an arts exhibition about the western coast of Latvia where the beach and some cities were partly closed in the Soviet times. There were some locals stories documented in short movies. Some cities and villages are located next to the sea,the
Western board of USSR. One lady was telling:
"There weren't such thing as a beautiful photography of a family member with the Baltic Sea in the backround. Taking photos in the beach were strictly forbidden." Funny?To the locals probably, but not for the army men who could accuse you for spying.
Also there were a lot of soldiers from ANY USSR republic who would continue to live in their flats near the army objects even after 1991. It was a VERY fucked up situation, a lot of those people didn't had any other job afterwards. As a result, there are many areas in almost any big town which are described as "criminal" because of these former army-men. For example, in my hometown is an area which is called "Bolderaja". It's sooooo bleak and crime level so high, nobody wants to live there and it's officially stated as an area in Riga where are the least educated people.
It's fun to explore those places but when you are really observing the DAMAGE to the nature and to the locals, it's eh....sad.