Vuosisadan tie (road of the century) or Punkaharjun Harjutie is a road built on a narrow ridge between two lakes, Puruvesi and Pihlajavesi. The road runs for several kilometers and at times the ridge is barely wider than the road. The views and the nature around the road are very beautiful, pictures of this road and ridge some of the classic Finnish tourist pictures.
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August 2023, Vuosisadan tien uimaranta, Punkaharju, Finland; Kuikonniemen uimaranta, Punkaharju, Finland
Swimming (Water, Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)
I'm staying at the Parc 55 hotel in San Francisco. It does not have a pool, but the same chain runs the next door hotel, the Hilton Union Square, so guests in my hotel can use their pool. It is up on the 16th floor. Pictured above at night from the 41st floor...
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July 2023, Hilton Union Square, San Francisco, California, USA
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water)
My personal favorite lake was the Lake Bohinj (above pic). Pristine, clear water, almost no signs of civilization long the lake shores and the green-covered mountains around. Wonderful, just wonderful. But Lake Bled was also good, obviously with more castles and other human structures and services around...
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July 2023, Lake Bohinj beach, Bohinj, Slovenia; Grajsko kopališče, Lake Bled, Bled, Slovenia
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake, Water, Beach)
On our tour of Slovenia's Piran, we also peeked on the Croatian side, and had a swim in the Polynesia Beach in the town of Umag. Little did we know that the ruins we started our swim from were actually the ruins of the Sipar Castle from A.D. 1000 or thereabouts. Some have even called this place the Atlantis of Sipar. Interesting!
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July 2023, Polynesia Beach, Umag, Croatia
Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Water, Beach); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles)
Hotel Borkovac is a nice, small spa hotel with a pool, saunas, etc.
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June 2023, Hotel Borkovac, Ruma, Serbia
Sauna (Normal, Infrared); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
I've lived in and around(*) Espoo for 35 years. And I often go to the swimming halls. How is it then that I've never visited Olari's swimming hall? I think I've heard about it, but had forgotten about its existence until looking for pools that I have not visited in the Helsinki region the other day.
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June 2023, Olarin uimahalli, Olari, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water); Sauna (Normal)
Another day, another new swimming hall to visit: Hakunilan uimahalli. Not a bad place! Very nice, modern saunas (incl. steam saunas) and many pools: cold plunge, main 25 m metallic pool, therapy pool with two sides, two kiddie pools. Congrats to Hakunila!
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June 2023, Hakunilan uimahalli, Vantaa, Finland
Swimming (Water, Indoor, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal, Steam)
I was looking for a visit in the Tampere swimming halls on the way to my summer cottage. It turned out that just on that day most of the halls closed for the summer. Bummer, I thought, and grudgingly decided to go for the remaining one. Little did I know that the Kalevala swimming hall - or Tampereen Uintikeskus as it is officially called - would be a truly magnificent place. Perhaps one of Finland's greatest swimming halls?
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June 2023, Tampereen uintikeskus, Tampere, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water); Sauna (Normal)
Phew, finally at the my summer cottage. Time for a swim break for everybody, including the unicorns!
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June 2023, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Lake, Outdoor)
Once again I'm in the caving meet-up, camping out on the beach. And since I'm an early riser, keep taking off from the camp at 6am and heading to the Visby swimming hall, the Solbergabadet. Very nice. Quiet, not crowded, showers, bathrooms, saunas, and the pool. Great experience!
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June 2023, Solbergabadet, Visby, Gotland, Sweden
Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Indoor)
I have both bad and fond memories from my childhood and the swimming pool in Kerava. The one bad memory is from someone stealing my pocket money at age 11 or something. Well lesson learned, about leaving money in pockets without lockers :-) Might have lost a whopping half a euro. This happened in the old outdoor pool setup that they had in the 1970s. But the many, many happy memories are particularly from the new swimming hall, one of the first ones in Finland that was built to "spa" like standards in the 1980s. I visited this place so often!
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May 2023, Uimahalli Aurinkoinen, Kerava, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
In Finnish there is an expression "heittää talviturkki" or "throw one's winter fur coat". It means the first time swimming in outdoor waters that year. For me it was as late as mid-May in 2023. Oh, and then there were some needles in my bath whisk...
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May 2023, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Swimming (Water, Outdoor, Waterbody-Lake); Sauna (Normal)
Radisson Blu in Split has a nice spa area.
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April 2023, Radisson Blu Split, Split, Croatia
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)
Kamenice beach is an out-of-the-way for most people visiting the Komiza village. Komiza is a picturesque fishing village on the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea archipelago in Croatia.
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April 2023, Kamenice Beach Cave, Komiza, Croatia; Kamenice Beach, Komiza, Croatia; Dog Beach, Komiza, Croatia
Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Erosion); Swimming (None, Waterbody-Sea, Beach)
After cleaning up at my mom's, it was time to dust off myself: my first visit to the Tuusula swimming hall. Quite nice. Small, but good saunas, a therapy pool, airy, nice views in the main pool area, etc. Worth a visit!
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April 2023, Tuusulan Uimahalli, Hyrylä, Tuusula, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool, Water)
I didn't like the prospect of using a super expensive conference hotel. Even if I didn't pay for it myself... so I looked for something more affordable, yet with some character.
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March 2023, Hotel Terrace Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan
Swimming (Indoor, Waterbody-Pool)