Hotel Vema is a brand new hotel in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Visoko is a small town near Sarajevo, maybe a 20 minute drive away. It is perhaps best know for the Bosnian pyramids, pyramid shape mountains that some claim actually are ancient pyramids. More on that story later... but for now, we will focus on this wonderful hotel!
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May 2024, Hotel Vema, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
My first time visiting the Kallie swimming pools. Very nice!
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May 2024, Urheiluhallit Kallio, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
After my visit to Usmi, I felt like I *really* needed to have a shower. And a sauna and swim would be a bonus. Fortunately, Hyvinkää's Sveitsin Uimala was nearby. Very, very nice. Indoor and outdoor pools (from June 1st), multiple pools, very nice saunas, clean, and at a nice pine forest area on top of the hill.
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May 2024, Sveitsin uimala, Hyvinkää, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
I visited Tammisaari on a Friday evening, after a tough work week. It was sunny... my crappy car was still kind of running (but few weeks left), and the swimming hall, the Tammisaari beaches, and Tammisaari in general were just wonderful.
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May 2024, Tammisaaren uimahalli, Raasepori, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam)
Like skiing or sex, they are always at least good, sometimes great :-) While looking for spare parts for my car, I managed to also stop at the Järvenpää and Nurmijärvi swimming halls. Very nice, both of them. But I was particularly struck how nice Nurmijärvi's hall was. Or Rajamäki's hall rather, Rajamäki belongs to Nurmijärvi, and is also famous for their alcohol production.
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May 2024, Rajamäen uimahalli, Nurmijärvi, Finland; Järvenpään uimahalli, Järvenpää, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
It was a good try. I think. Or maybe I should have pushed harder. But ... it was getting difficult to stay on the slope, even with some smaller trees around me. But in the end I turned around, and did not reach the Dobrun cave in the mountains of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina... the slope was loose gravel, and getting steeper on every step. No sign of paths. I do wonder though, I could *see* the cave but not reach it! And reportedly monks have lived in the cave, is there another path?
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April 2024, Dobrun Cave, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dobrun Party Cave, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dobrun railway tunnel, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Caving (None, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Caving (Basic, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-River); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels)
Me: "Last time I was here was 35 years ago." Receptionist: "Not much has changed since then.". But, Korso's swimming hall still rocks. Small but functional.
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April 2024, Korson uimahalli, Korso, Vantaa, Finland; Korson siirtolohkareen luolanen, Korso, Vantaa, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders, Rock-Gneiss)
This really is an experience. An old Yugoslavia army hotel, now a tourist destination? Omorika sits in the Tara mountains in southeastern Serbia, close to the Bosnian border. The architecture is just right, it does say Yugoslavia. While the all-inclusive model in an affordable hotel may not be to everyone's tastes, it was quite reasonable experience, fish for dinner, etc. And the saunas and pools were good, even if the other facilities were a bit 1960s...
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April 2024, Hotel Omorika, Planina Tara, Kremna, Serbia
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
I did not know that there were swimming halls here! But Urheiluhallit runs many sports facilities that I now have to visit, including this one in Töölö, next to the Tullinpuomi intersection and my old computer science department house.
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March 2024, Urheiluhallit Töölö, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
Swim at the ”Australia’s only inner-city, man-made beach”, Streets Beach.
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March 2024, Streets Beach, South Brisbane, Australia
Swimming (Outdoor, Water)
While in Brisbane, I stayed at the Hope Street Apartments, a hotel/service apartment facility in South Brisbane next my conference venue. Affordable, my own kitchen, laundry machines in the apartment, etc. They had a pool and sauna as well. Of course, otherwise I would not have stayed there :-)
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March 2024, Hope Street Apartments by CLLIX, South Brisbane, Australia
Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Outdoor); Sauna (Normal)
Paradise Caves. So near (maybe just 1m from the drip line) but so far. There was only three ways in, one covered by tide, and the other two were rock ledges sloping towards a cliff. And the rain and the sea swell had made everything more slipper than I liked. Turned around.
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March 2024, Paradise Caves, Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia; Sunshine Beach, Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia
Caving (Basic, Morphology-Erosion, Rock-Unknown); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach)
Basic motel, in a nice beach town of 'Beachmere' though. But I'm here late and the wind and rain wouldn't let me go to the beach even if there was still light. And everything seems closed, even the motel doesn't have staff around, just a note for me to enter the room :-)
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March 2024, Beachmere Palms Motel, Beachmere, Queensland, Australia
Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Water, Outdoor)
I realized there's more swimming pools in the Helsinki area that I have not visited. Today I visited the Siltamäki swimming pool. a small sports facility in the suburb of Siltamäki in Helsinki. My expectations were not high, and the pool being four lanes, 17m long, and only 80cm deep for half it... it wasn't a super good place for laps in the pool. But, it was a nice visit to a new place! And the sauna was just perfect temperature and design.
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January 2024, Siltamäen uimahalli, Siltamäki, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Water, Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
There's a more famous spa in Bormio city center, but ... this is something else: QC Terme Bagni Vecchi. Nestled in the high mountains above Bormio, on the road to the famed Passo di Stelvio... like a castle with indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna in a cave heated by the natural thermal waters.
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January 2024, QC Terme Bagni Vecchi, Bormio, Italy
Swimming (None); Sauna (None)
I've been to the new Matinkylä swimming hall before, but it was only now I realized how to park in their garage! The swimming hall is a block or two away from the massive Iso Omena shopping mall, where I've parked before. But I kept wondering how come people were walking to the garage underneath the swimming hall, yet I couldn't see a way to drive there.
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January 2024, Matinkylän uimahalli, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)