Hotel Golfinho
We came across this hotel purely by chance, although it's pretty hard to miss! Located super close to our favourite beach in Lagos, Dona Ana, we were instantly attracted to this creepy looking building.
After doing some research on the building we found out it was called 'Hotel Golfinho' which translates to Dolphin hotel. About 20 years ago it was a popular resort for holidaymakers but the recession hit it hard and it had to close.
It's a HUGE resort with 300 or so rooms, a swimming pool, bar and even a club! We had to climb through a hole in the fencing around the place and walk along a high wall to get down to the ground floor.
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| The old logo of the hotel. |
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| Kids pool in the middle and adult pool on the right. |
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| The kids pool. |
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| The outside. |
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| We found a creepy doll on the stairs!! |
Ruins of the old convent da Tridade
There's not much information on the internet about this place apart from its name and that it was built between 1599 and 1609 and was later damaged in an earthquake. It was then rebuilt as a hospital for the Portuguese Navy but I'm unsure of how it became so rundown after.
Located in lagos, it was easy to find and easy to get into! (In fact the door was knocked down!). As soon as we got into the building we were flooded by the stink of waste and rubbish and the first room was covered in plastic bags and old food wrappers.
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The entrance
Exploring this place was so exciting but also quite gross and creepy. As we made our way around we found the overgrown courtyard that lead onto some more rooms. I was totally surprised by something I almost trod on, a mummified cat!
People used to mummify their cats for a number of reasons which include:
- Protection of witchcraft (particularly if the cat was found in the walls)
- Sending the beloved pet into the afterlife
- offering the cat as a present to the gods.
Needless to say it gave us the heebeegees! (photo below) |
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| The floor was filled with plastic bags and waste products! |
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| Mummified cat!! |
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| The courtyard |
We went across the courtyard to the rooms opposite...and that's when I started hearing banging noises. I turned around a saw a door that had warning signs on, such as 'STAY OUT' and some things written in portuguese. Before I had time to ask Chris if he could hear the banging a man's voice rung through the air shouting 'HEY!!!'. We didn't hang around long enough to hear the rest and legged it as fast as we could!
Chris later mentioned that one of the rooms looked like someone (or something..) had been living there, as there was boxes full of things on the floors.
So just a caution to anyone wanted to explore this place, beware of the shouting man and mummified cat!
There are many abandoned places in Portugal, and if your brave enough, you should have a search, although please we aware people may be living in them - and don't go alone or at night!!!
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Another abandoned house - We didn't explore this one as we were still creeped out from the Convent..
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