100 things: 100 photos - photo 27: mayfly

mayfly_78

100 things: 100 photos - photo 27

Apr 12, 2014 11:00

One thing that always photographs well is abandoned spaces. I have lots of photos of abandoned and derelict houses. There is something about the dereliction, the slight sadness and melancholy to these that makes you dream and imagine all the stories and passed lives embedded in these places.

In my last #100 things post I posted a photoset talking about the similar theme of the decay of materials. Today I'm coming from a slightly different place.

Back when I was growing up Luna Parks as we called them - or theme parks as they are probably more well known as - where a big thing. We had at least three that I can recall having visited in Athens. Some where permanent, some where temporary and came and went. The one in Glyfada - the neighbourhood I grew up in - begun as a temporary one. I remember in the summers it would set up in the big empty island that was used as a parking lot above the main church of lower Glyfada. I have many childhood memories of hot summer nights spent on ferrys wheels, dodgem cars and eating candy floss. It was probably the closest experience that I had as a kid that closely matched what we saw in american films of the time.

By the nineties the park had moved to a permanent location on the Glyfada seafront and was now called International Luna Park. It quickly became one of the most famous theme parks of Athens of the 90s and 00s. Now it has been abandoned and I'm not sure if it's even still there. Last time I passed by it was in 2009 when it was already an abandoned ghostly place.

So today I'm sharing with you a couple of photos I took of the park that sunday late morning I passed by to look at the abandoned relics of my youth.

[International Luna Park - image heavy]

photos, #100things, living in athens