Abandoned Resort Hotel, Nerantza, Greece (black and white film)

The hulk of the Angela resort hotel looms above the coast road in the little town of Nerantza. Nerantza is a seaside resort or summer-home community about 10 miles west of Corinth, facing the Gulf of Corinth. The town had a building boom of sorts in the 1960s and 1970s, which led to this 4-story concrete hotel. It may have once been known as the Angela. My brother-in-law recalls teaching wind-surfing to tourists in the 1970s, and he said the hotel closed in 1981 after a major earthquake caused structural damage. The hulk has been empty since then.

The fence around the back lot has fallen down, so it is easy to enter the grounds. In 2011, I took digital pictures inside, but now the structure looks dangerous, and I did not want to venture inside. The former kitchen area had a mess of fallen debris on the floors. The courtyard in the second photograph above formerly had a metal framework to support awnings, but the steel has been removed.

Someone had dumped bricks and building material into the pool. Hmmm, mosquito-breeding habitat?

A short distance to the east, an unfinished concrete edifice sits along the coast road. Is it awaiting another developer??? Awaiting hope?

These photographs are from Fujifilm Acros black and white film, exposed at EI=80 and developed in Xtol by Praus Productions (Rochester, New York). I used a 24mm Super-Multi-Coated Takumar lens with an adapter on my Leica M2 camera. Framing is a bit difficult because I do not have a 24mm viewfinder, but a wide lens is valuable for close quarters in this type of setting. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner.

UPDATE OCTOBER 2022:  The hotel is being restored. Some company is ambitious.

Railroads of Greece 8: Ag. Theodoron

Agios Theodoron (also translated as Agioi Theodoroi; Greek: Άγιοι Θεόδωροι) is a small town facing the Saronic Gulf, about 5 miles east of Isthmia, at the eastern end of the Corinth Canal. The 1-meter gauge Piraeus, Athens and Peloponnese Railways (SPAP) formerly passed through Ag. Theodoron. The 1-meter train is no longer in use, having been replaced by the regular gauge Athens Suburban Railway.

The old stations were well-built, and most of the ones I have seen are secure and in good condition. The Greek railway appears to have done a lot of maintenance on tracks and infrastructure up to about a decade ago, when they abruptly discontinued use of the 1-meter system. Possibly this coincided with the onset of the Greek economic malaise around 2007, but I just do not know.

So, what do we do after a day of exploring railroads? Eat a Greek meal, of course, and finish off a bottle of wine (or two) - and then a chocolate torte. The food is locally-sourced, fresh, and home-made. None of that vile fast food crap here. It is a culture shock returning to USA after eating like this.

Railroads of Greece 6b: The Lost Locomotives of Myloi (with Tri-X film)

Myloi is a sleepy town on the west side of the Bay of Naufplio (Nauplion), which is at the north end of the Argolic Gulf in southern Greece. The narrow-gauge (1.0-meter) Peloponnese railroad passes (more accurately, passed) through town. The main line from Athens comes in from the north via the town of Argos. Heading south, the line runs along the coast to Myloi and then turns west, ascending the mountains towards Tripoli. I found some Tri-X frames that I took in 2016 in Myloi at the old rail yard. Here, steam locomotives had been parked and semi-forgotten for decades. I presented some digital frames from Myloi before.

The old locomotives are rusting away slowly, although with Greece's dry climate, the deterioration is not nearly as severe as it would be in a rainy climate. Giant eucalyptus trees loom over the tracks and old locomotives.

The label of "mouseío" indicates that at one time, this locomotive was to be used for some sort of display or museum. What happened to that plan? I would not be surprised if the economic crisis that started in 2008-2009 dashed hopes for a rail museum.

This is the depot, which, as of 2016, was secure and in good condition. Many of the tracks had new ties and bedding. Status of the Peloponnese railroad and all this equipment and infrastructure: unknown.

Water spigot for steam locomotives, Myloi, Greece.

These photographs are from Kodak Tri-X 400 film exposed with a Rolleiflex 3.5E twin-lens reflex camera with 75mm f/3.5 Xenotar lens. The negatives are rough. I did a poor job with developing, and the film was thin and had spots and lint. I cleaned the lint with the heal tool in Photoshop CS3. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner, operated with Silverfast Ai software.

Railroads of Greece 7b: The Corinth Railroad Station with Black and White Film

When I visited the now-unused train station in Corinth, Greece, last October (2018), I had two cameras with me. The little Yashica Electro 35CC had color Kodak Ektar 100 film, and my Leica M2 was loaded with Fujifilm Acros black and white film. Last week, I showed you some of the color results. Here are some of the black and white frames.

Corinthos train station (not in use), 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens, Leitz polarizing filter. 

Control lever for points, Corinthos, Greece

Being a sunny day with the classic brilliant Greek light, the setting does not have quite enough of that urban decay aura. The Acros film is very fine grain and does not look gritty, unlike 1960s Tri-X.

When I was last here in 2011, there was more rolling stock on the tracks, but much of it is now gone.

I am surprised that these rotating water spigots were preserved. I have seen other spigots at stations throughout the Peloponnese.

End of the line, Corinthos, Greece.

Dear Readers, you can decide if you prefer color or monochrome for this type of setting.

Ticket for the full-gauge Athens Suburban Train.

Photographs are from Fujifilm Acros film exposed at EI=80. I used a Leica M2 rangefinder camera with a 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens, with yellow or polarizing filters to darken the sky. This is the Type 3 35mm, the pre-aspherical model. The film was developed in Xtol by Praus Productions, Rochester, New York. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner controlled by Silverfast Ai software.

Railroads of Greece 7: Corinthos Train Station (Ektar film)

Corinth is an ancient city at the east end of the Gulf of Corinth, a long, narrow body of water that separates the mainland of Greece from the Peloponnese region. The Peloponnese was developed with 1-m narrow gauge rail in the late-1800s. Corinth was one of the first cities that a traveler reached on his rail journey from Athens to the Peloponnese.

This railroad station on Dimokratias Street is rather severe mid-20th century architecture, possibly 1950s or 1960s construction. I do not know how many older stations on the site were replaced by this building. Fortunately, it is not abandoned. I saw modern computers and office furniture inside, so someone is using it as office space. It may have been painted since I last visited the site in 2011.

Kodak Ektar 100 film, Yashica Electro 35CC camera, polarizing filter.

The modern Athens Suburban Railway, Train OSE, is a regular-gauge commuter line that enters Corinth on a totally different right-of-way. Therefore, this older 1-meter system is currently unused. The rail yard is unused and grassing over. Some rolling stock that I saw here in 2011 has been pulled away.

The Ektar film does a nice job emphasizing the red of the roofs, graffiti, and rust.

These old spigot arms are still in place, even though steam locomotives were phased out decades ago.  Some of the old locomotives are rusting away in Myloi, a town on the west side of the bay of Naufplio. When the family and I took the train from Kato Achaia to Athens in 1997, we rode in self-contained diesel-electric cars (meaning not pulled by a locomotive).

The KTEL bus station is across the street. On the day I was there, a modern and clean Athens-bound coach pulled into the street and picked up a few passengers.

These photographs are from Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film, exposed with a Yashica Electro 35CC compact rangefinder camera. I used a Canon brand polarizing filter to cut glare. This inexpensive little camera has a very fine 35mm f/1.8 Color-Yashinon-DX lens, maybe marginally lower resolution than my 35mm Leica Summicron lens, but not far behind. These Electro 35CCs are a bargain on the big auction site. Update: like many other film cameras, these 35CCs have gone up in price and sell for over $100, mostly from Japanese vendors.

The picture of the WC door with books is from a Moto G5 mobile.

Successful Experiment: Pentax Takumar 24mm Lens on my Leica M2

Background

When I travel overseas and need to pack light, I often take my Leica M2 rangefinder camera with its compact 35mm and 50mm ƒ/2.0 Summicron lenses (plus light meter, filters, and hoods). But recently, I have been thinking wide, which must go along with my increasing girth. Some options:

1. New Leica 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M lens. $7500 in USA. (Wow)
2. Used (OK, "pre-owned") Leica 24mm f/2.8 lens. About $1800. (Lesser wow)
3. Used Zeiss Biogon 25 mm f/2.8 ZM lens. About $750.
4. New Skopar 24mm f/4.0 lens. About $400

Of course the genuine 24mm M lens or the 25mm Zeiss would be best, but realistically I would not use them all that often. But I have a clean Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 24mm f/3.5 lens for the Pentax Spotmatic in the cabinet. It has a longer register distance to the mount than true M lenses, making room for an adapter. So I bought a $20 Fotodiox M42-Leica M adapter from Amazon and did a test run. (Note: all the M42 thread-mount Pentax Takumar lenses are excellent performers on film.)

Chinese specialty companies make adapters to fit just about any older manual SLR lens to most so-called mirrorless digital camera bodies. This gives new life to many beautiful classic film lenses. Most longer focal lengths, around 50mm or more, perform really well on digital bodies. The wide angles sometimes have problems with digital sensors, but in that I was using film, I was going to use a lens designed for that sensing media.

Results

The good: The optical results were better than I expected. I do not have a genuine Leica 24, so I have no basis for comparison. Sure, it is not as "sharp" as my 35 Summicron, but so what? Sharpness phobia consumes pseudo-photographers on digital camera web pages. For $20, I am pleased.

The clumsy: Framing is a problem. If I move my eye left and right and up and down the maximum extent across the M2's eyepiece, I think I see most of the 24mm coverage. The lens blocks part of the view, and using the genuine Takumar hood is hopeless. To do: buy a 24mm auxiliary finder. Focus is totally manual.

The heavy: The Takumar with its Fotodiox adapter is a bulky and rather heavy cylinder.

Here are some examples from Romania and Greece. The film was Fujifilm Acros, exposed at EI=80. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol. I scanned the film with a Plustek 7600i scanner using the Tri-X 400 profile (the SilverFast software does not have an Acros profile).

Rooftops, view from Kronhaus B&B, Braşov, Romania.
24mm Takumar lens. 

Room with a view, dormer window at Kronhaus, Braşov, Romania.
Leica 35mm f/2.0 Summicron lens. 

Room with a view, dormer window at Kronhaus, Braşov, Romania.
Takumar 24mm f/3.5 lens. 

Our room at a bed and breakfast in Braşov, Romania, had interesting views over the old tile roofs in the historic center. The two photographs above show the difference in coverage between the 35mm lens and the 24mm. The exposure is a bit different, and the 35mm Summicron does a slightly better job at distinguishing subtle tonal variations.

The view of the upper town and the Gothic tower of the Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary in Sibiu, Romania, is from the Council Tower. I used a yellow filter on the 24mm lens to darken the sky. The photograph is through glass, which you see in the upper left.

This abandoned hotel, possibly once called the Angela, is in Nerantza, Greece, a few km west of Corinth on the Gulf of Corinth. I have photographed here in 2011, but the 24mm lens with black and white film gives an appropriately gloomy look to this 1960s hulk.

Never-complete hotel, Nerantza, Greece

Conclusions

The 24mm Takumar lens works well on the Leica M2. Framing is clumsy and you need to guess the distance of your main subject, but that is not too critical with a wide angle lens. I already had the 24mm lens, so $20 for an adapter was a bargain way to get wide angle coverage. A 24mm auxiliary finder would be helpful.

Other photography articles

Please click the links for other articles about equipment, informal tests, and film:

• Decay with the Leica
• Decay with the Rolleiflex
• Kodak Panatomic-X film
• Decline of an industrial empire, Eastman Kodak Company
• Leica IIIC camera repaired and perfect
• Another look at the Leica IIIC camera
• 1950s 50mm Dual-range Summicron lens
• 135mm Takumar lens
• Olympus Trip 35 compact camera
• Another look at the Olympus Trip 35
• Fuji GW690II camera ("Texas Leica")
• Yashica Electro 35CC compact camera
• Kodak BW400 film
• Kodak Ektar 25 film
• 250mm Sonnar lens for Hasselblad
• 35mm Takumar lens for Pentax
• Fomapan 100 film
• Kodak Technical Pan film
• Quick test of a Leica Monochrom vs. film

Return to Monasteraki, Athens, Greece - revisit with Tri-X film

During my 2016 trip to Greece, I revisited the Monasteraki district of Athens, the crowded urban core of the city. I have been there before many times, but the old twisty streets and mixture of early 20th century buildings and modern concrete monstrosities warrant careful exploration. The main commercial street is Athenas, a straight line which connects Monasteraki plaza (near the Pláka) to Omonia Square, but the side streets have no obvious grid or pattern - they are confusing.

Pallados Street

This time, I was struck by how much worse the graffiti was. I know that many Greeks people object to the austerity and cutbacks imposed by the EU in exchange for loaning Greece money, but defacing their once handsome city does not serve anyone's interests nor make much of a statement.

Trendy ladies on Pallados.

Some of the street art is slightly interesting. Note how this building is triangle-shaped to fit in one of the odd corner lots.

Junk (antiques) shop on Aristogonos.

There is a cluster of flea-market-style shops on Aristogonos, off Athinas. I did not see much of interest, but they seem to stay in business. Many of them now are owned or staffed by Middle-eastern men. It is not a nice atmosphere, and there is a lot of filth and debris on the streets.

The metro runs from Piraeus (the harbor) through downtown and on to the suburb of Kiffisias.

This is approximately the same location, photographed in 1951 or 1952.

A trip downtown is never complete without a visit to the Central Market (click the link for an earlier article).

After you are done watching the fish mongers chopping up fish or arranging octopi and squid, stop at one of the small restaurants in the Market to tuck in to fresh grilled sardines and some Retsina. Then have a Greek coffee at the Mokka coffee shop next door. This is the real Greece.

I took the square photographs with my Rolleiflex 3.5E camera on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. The 1951 photograph of the metro is from a Leica IIIC 35mm camera, film stock possibly an Agfa emulsion. The IIIC has recently been overhauled and is back in operation.