I know what you mean, it's like a glimpse into the past. That is why I enjoy movies that depict such things, like Titanic. If you have seen it, you may remember the part when they showed the "Grand Staircase" at the bottom of the ocean, rusted, ruined and covered in seaweed. Then they go back in time to 1912 and show the same staircase teeming with life at its height of glory. It's quite neat. really.

Anyway, that place does not ring a bell I am pretty good at American geogrophy and know of quite a few cities here but not so much world cities. And that does not sound like a place in the US. Is it in Spain?