Architecture Decay in Costa Brava

recently visited Santa Suzanna, a beach resort in Costa Brava in Catalunya a couple of hours from Barcelona, we were finishing the second wave of Covid 19, and things were starting to open up. 

There wasn’t much expectation in getting any sort of photography story from this location, at the end, I was on vacation with my friends. However, one day walking through the empty street of Santa Suzanna, it was striking to see the amount of concrete decay in form of empty resorts and old hotels and balconies that are empty. 

This fusion of old concrete under a happy holiday mask of decay architecture that passed its golden years creates this strange mix of nostalgia and an eerie atmosphere next to a beautiful beach, it has an unsettling by satisfying felling

 I was impressed with the amount of concrete, decayed hotels that passed their golden years with a mix of nostalgia, and an eerie atmosphere on a beautiful beach, it had an unsettling feeling of how mass tourists invaded a little town by the coast, and left without warning leaving behind the locals with a half empty ghost town. Maybe the mass tourism will return, hard to tell if this is a blessing or a course to the local population that stayed during the pandemic tourism exodus. 

Santa Suzanna is a place of colour, but the monochromatic photography style reflects the eerie feeling when you look deeper into the problems with mass tourism. 

Hopefully, Santa Suzanna tourism will return, but in a more sustainable way without leaving behind the architectural decay that inspired this photography story.

Thomas Milton - Alternative Spots founder

If you liked any of the photography in this story and would like to have photography print, please contact thomas@alternativespots.com