It is always a bit sketchy to visit our summer cottage in late fall. It is cold, freezing, the facilities are pretty basic, and if the road is icy we can't cope with the steep hills on the road. Not with my crap car at least. But, it always ends up being a wonderful visit. Dipped in the cold lake once at least, had a wonderful warm sauna in glowing fire light, the lake and sunsets were beautiful. And I saw for the first time northern lights! Amazing that I have not succeeded in seeing them before, but for some reason not.
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October 2023, Arkko summer cottage, Teisko, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake)
I've been here many times before, but doing it with my friends this time made me realize an annoying thing. We visited the Itäkeskus swimming hall, a wonderful underground creation. But... one of the nicest pools in a rock-dug hole was painful when kids were screaming at the full power of their lungs. And it is a massive echo chamber. In fact, the entire swimming hall is quite bad at acoustics; hard surfaces for the sounds to bounce off.
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September 2023, Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
If your caving friend was coming over for a weekend, what would you show about the Finnish caving scene? Here's our menu for a caving buffet, covering everything from ice saunas to block caves to cracks in granite, mines, limestone caves, to salmon meals to ... did I already mention saunas? Not to forget Sibelius for dessert!
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September 2023, Viking Glory, Stockholm, Sweden; Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland; Rotkoluola, Kaarina, Finland; Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland; House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland; Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Hvitträsk cliff, Kirkkonummi, Finland
Sauna (Normal, Steam, Other); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders, Equipment); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Equipment); Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Travel; Caving (Basic, , Rock, Equipment, Morphology-Erosion); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites)
Such bliss. A quiet swimming pool, almost an empty sauna and showers... now we are visiting the Kauniainen (Grani) swimming hall. It is one of the oldest and most basic swimming halls in the areas around Helsinki. And it may be torn down; but for now it means low prices, quietness, and space.
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September 2023, Kauniaisten uimahalli, Kauniainen, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
The Malmi swimming hall is one of the halls operated by Urheiluhallit Oy, a corporation running several sports facilities in Helsinki. For some reason I had never been there, had not even heard about it. I ended up visiting on its 40th birthday celebration. Quite an achievement, though undoubtedly achieved through several major renovations. In its current state, the hall is quite modern and nice.
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September 2023, Malmin uimahalli, Malmi, Helsinki, Finland
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool)
I had not seen this before, but at the Oittaa beach on the Bodom lake there's a clever "lifebuoy", with integrated emergency boat for the rescuers to use. Very nice! We need more of these!
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September 2023, Oittaan uimaranta, Nuuksio, Espoo, Finland
Swimming (None)
While skiing in Husby, I saw something which I wanted to return to: Husbybadet, the local community swimming hall.
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September 2023, Husbybadet, Husby, Stockholm, Sweden
Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Sauna (Normal)
Our caving expedition to the Käsijärvi wilderness area involved camping and research around the Njiellalanjávri lake. Of course, I had to swim there every night to clean myself of the day's sweat and dirt :-) Even if it was cold. Well, maybe these more like quick dips into the lake. Anyway, spectacularly nice water and scenery!
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August 2023, Njiellalanjávri, Enontekiö, Finland
Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake)
Ouch. That hurt surprisingly much, even if the jellyfish was tiny one. Somehow I immediately knew I was hit by one, and I saw the tiny thing float away. No worries, the bar at the beach happened to have a vinegar spray bottle, wonder why? :-)
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August 2023, Lucica beach, Komiža, Croatia
Swimming (Outdoor, Water)
You have to agree that the name is weird, but regardless of that, Hotel Hospitz is a nice boutique hotel in Savonlinna's city center. It is small, just few rooms in two floors. But it has a bookable sauna in the basement, with direct access to the beach in front. Such a nice swim!
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August 2023, Hotelli Hospitz, Savonlinna, Finland
Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Lake, Beach)
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)