Sanatorio de Abona

[NAH]

Destined to be a leper colony for Spain's leprosy patients, the Arico Sanatorium is rumoured to have been designed by Jose Enrique Marrero Regalado, the same architect who designed the basilica in Candelaria. The project was never finished as advancements in medicine almost eradicated leprosy as the 'village' was being built.

Turning off the TF-1 at Junction 42 and heading down into Abades along Avenida Ocira we could see the unfinished church up to the left. We parked up and commenced our walk across the beach, clambering up the other side and slowly making our way towards the unfinished buildings. The isolation of two lone holiday makers amidst the unfinished buildings was an eerie feeling but as we grew more used to the solitude our interest and curiosity overcame our initial concerns.

We wandered towards one of the smaller buildings, avoiding the one which was charred black on the outside from some sort of fire, and ventured inside. It was a long building with a corridor down the centre, which ran from front to back. A single long room on each side of the corridor with three doorways leading into each, although inside there was no apparent reason for the three doors as they all entered the one long single room and this was the same on both side of the corridor. I can only assume that the interior walls had not been constructed when work was stopped and that when finished this building was intended to have 3 smaller rooms each side each with their own separate entrance doors. We continued a little further and entered another similarly constructed building gradually making our way up to the unfinished church.

The church stands at the highest point of the unfinished 'village' and dominates its surroundings, the entrance being majestic as you would expect. The interior walls of the church now contain numerous pieces of graffiti, some pertaining to worship but who has spent time painting these and how recently is unknown.

There are many other buildings to explore, some of which it is believed were destined to be a hospital and possibly shops.

This is an interesting visit if you can easily walk the rough terrain and are not afraid of what might be lurking in any of the buildings.

[NAH]

[attach=1] [attach=2] [attach=3]

[Janet]

I've always found Abades the spookiest of places ... Island of the Damned has nothing on it ...

[Perikles]

I googled that to find a date ( )

The timber in the roof of the unfinished church must be worth an absolute fortune. Who owns it?

[NAH]

I've always found Abades the spookiest of places ... Island of the Damned has nothing on it ...

It was somewhere I wanted to go and see. When we first arrived @NAHOH wasn't keen on staying too long due to the isolated location but curiosity won in the end.

The actual village of Abades itself was unbelievably quiet. A huge amount of free parking and only about half a dozen cars parked.

[NAH]

I googled that to find a date ( )

The timber in the roof of the unfinished church must be worth an absolute fortune. Who owns it?

I've heard that it was sold to an Italian around 2012

Apparently it is also used for military training at times.

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Really nice posts, NAH, about a place I've never visited on our brilliant little island.  I would really like to see this. 

[Janet]

@Myrtle Hogan-Lance have you ever been to Poris? If not, maybe one day we could go up there and look into Abades on the way. I'll take a crucifix and a pile of garlic ...

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Done, @Janet . I will bring hand sanitiser and bread, tomatoes, olive oil and salami. 

[NAH]

I've heard that it was sold to an Italian around 2012

That's a typo...should read 2002