Aerial video of the quarry near Karlukovo. Train from above.

   This weekend I had the change to get closer to the quarry in Karlukovo - an amazing karst region in Eastern Europe; Bulgaria.

   It was a bit of an interesting flight. At first everything went smooth, and I even saw the evening train arriving; then departing for Sofia on the Karlukovo train station in the background from up above. But then, at certain point, the flight became a bit unstable and I lost connection to my Ar.Drone 2.0. Eventually, it did not reconnect, even though I wasn't all that far, so it decided on it's own to land - happily enough, it did not land within the stone smashing machinery; nor on a rooftop with no access. It is back within me, safe and whole. But it really seems like I need to get a more serious machine soon.

Unusual railroad history - the last standing building from an old train station from high above

   This evening I went on to a very interesting and quite a bit different exploration in order to see the last standing building from an old, long-abandoned train station. Well, in actuality, I've seen the place quite a few times already - have done some pictures, videos and even a 360 panorama. But today I was going for something a bit more thrilling and adventurous.

   The train station "Serdika" has been abandoned many, many years ago, and is mostly demolished. In actuality, the building that I explored today seems to be the last standing one from the complex. Not much can be found about the station itself on the internet, especially in English, so I might need to translate some materials later on. But for today, I am a bit excited to show you what I did.

   This is the building in question. I don't really know what it has been used for, but seems like it was a filling station of some sort. The tracks used to go all around this, but nowadays nothing has remained of any rail - just that deep forest behind, a grass field in the front and those high-standing silos, where no one can go anymore. You can see that my picture could have almost been made using a zoom lens, but it is, rather, not. I used a drone in order to actually fly 23 meters up in the sky and see the top of this building, where trees grow, and no one will ever climb to until one day those silos will be gone.

This is a bird's eye view of the two tall structures. You can see the trees above, as well as that they are already slowly falling down. I got even a bit closer:

I can't even explain what makes this place so special. The feeling that no one will ever go up there ever again, and yet being able to see it from close by, as if I am climbing up once again. Somehow magical. And certainly, a piece of the great history of the Bulgarian railways. A video to follow.