Time passed, and we were drifting even further away from our intended date location. We are now very close to the Russian border. In fact as close as you can get without a special permit.
This here is a former border control station. It was built back in 1987, when the Soviet Union started opening up and travel between the countries became possible. When communism fell and travel and trade increased, it became small and outdated. It was replaced with a new station in 2006.
In 2016 the state sold the buildings to an entrepreneur, who planned apartments, offices and a travel business to them. Since then nothing has happened and nobody’s been around.
If I call, will somebody answer?
Back in the days this place was famous for long truck queues. Nowadays it’s just full of emtpiness.
Although abandoned for a long time, the buildings have stayed suprisingly intact.
The old customs office.
Old signs are still in place. I’ve removed the name of the crossing point to protect the location.
That sure looks healthy.
The clock is running down the wall.
This is where numerous Russian truckers and tourists entered the European Union.
And that there hiding behind the bushes is a beautiful old Volvo!
There was no way in and we were about to leave anyway. And that was when we heard a buzz, which sounded like a swarm of insects.
It was a drone. The border controllers are still watching the area despite it being abandoned. And I’m actually pretty happy about it.
This is beyond cool! Seriously! You got to look at an abandoned border checkpoint that was part of the former Soviet Union? Epic!
Tomorrow, I’m going on my own adventure; specifically New York State’s oldest and largest psychiatric hospital facility, now abandoned! I’m excited!
You make it sound a bit cooler than it really is. This is the checkpoint on the Finnish side. It was occupied by the Finnish border control. They would check that you didn’t export anything which wasn’t allowed to be exported or import anything that wasnt allowed to be imported. The Soviets had their own checkpoint on their side working in the same way.
Wow, I am excited too! Please let me know when you publish photos from there. After all, one of my first encounters with abandoned buildings was watching photos and videos from Edgewood hospital way back during Midsummer night in 2006. I was seventeen and drunk as hell browsing through all the content.