Altamira cave (replica) visit

Madrid, Spain. There's a famous cave, the Altamira cave in Cantabria that has fabulous cave paintings. Unfortunately, it is today inaccessible to prevent visitors bringing in moisture that was slowly degrading these ancient paintings. Ancient, very ancient, the cave paintings were made between 35,000 and 13,000 years ago. The cave was closed after that period by a landslide, until it was discovered sometime in the late 19th century due to construction work.

The cave used to be open to visitors, but it is now indeed closed. There is a nice replica in a museum in Cantabria (link), although I visited another replica in Madrid, in the Archaeological Museum (link).

Not the original, but much recommended. It is also very, very cool. And the replica and the museum is extremely nicely done.

The replicate cave room featured a replica of a part of the cave's ceiling. Conveniently a mirror was placed below it, so you could view it looking up or down:

And the paintings were ... spectacular! This is I guess why they originally didn't believe they were as old as they were:

They also had a map of the original cave, showing as well what part the replica covers:

Entrance to the cave replica is straight from the museum's front yard. No need to even get a ticket from inside, at least on the day I visited. Not sure if that's the case on all weekdays...

Video:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. 

Saarijärvi swim

My son took me to a place that he had scouted earlier. A remote lake, rocky peninsulas, crystal clear water. The day was also warm, sunny, and the water pleasant... can't get better than this. Saarijärvi!

Saarijärvi can be accessed by the Vihdintie highway, northwest of Helsinki center. The official beach is at N 60.331428 E 24.610719, but this time we didn't visit that but rather explored the natural parts of the lake.

Espoo's highest point, Mustakorvenkallio, is also nearby.

Parking can be an issue if you're here by car, and it is a nice summer day. Be prepared to walk. In fact, you'll have to walk some kilometers anyway, if you're not going to the official beach. But there's plenty of good trails.

Tony Hagerlund's blog talks about Saarijärvi beach (link). More about the lake itself here.

Photos:

Clear water in one of the sandy spots around the lake:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Kivenlahti sea swim

Around Kivenlahti there are a number of nice beaches to swim at, including Laurinlahti that I also recently visited. But this time I am at the Kivenlahti Beach, conveniently located just few hundred meters from the Hypeareena which has gyms, hockey arenas, saunas, and also pools. This time I did the gyms there and came to the beach for the swim. The Kivenlahti Beach is a really nice, secluded beach surrounded by the green nature. Much recommended!

Official link: here. Tony Hagerlund's article: here.

This summer there's by the way been multiple incidents and even drownings in many of Finland's beaches. Sadly, there was an incident (fortunately the person recovered) also earlier the day I visited, and some days after, a drowning. 

Let's be careful out there. I always swim parallel to the beach, and mostly where I can reach the bottom, or at least swim a few meters to reach the bottom. But I have some health issues, so I don't want to be caught in the open water with problems. But not necessarily a bad idea for others either. And teach your kids to swim really well, and look after them, every second they are near water!

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take recognizable photos of saunagoers or swimmers.

It is the Hype season

While all the community swimming pools seem to be closed during the summer, I realized that the parking-garage looking building on my way to work is actually a multi-function place, with not just parking but also an ice hockey arena, gym, cafeterias, nightclubs and restaurants... and a rooftop saunas and a pool. Very, very nice experience. Loved the sauna with a view.

Entrance to the sauna and pools is 10€. The pool is 16 meters long, and there's space for maybe 2 independent tracks, so not super big. But at a time when there isn't a lot of other people it works.

One-time entry to the gym is 17€, but for that there are also membership deals. 

The official name of the site is Hype Hybridiareena or Hypeareena. More information on their web site here. Hypeareena is in Espoo's Kivenlahti area, coordinates N 60.156772 E 24.630485.

One of the restaurant/cafeterias:

Gym:

See also the articles about the nearby Kivenlahti and Laurinlahti beaches. A gym visit combined with a dip to the sea by the Kivenlahti Beach for instance is a very nice combo.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken from the outside or when the facility is closed or empty. The sauna picture and the first pool picture in this article are by Hypeareena itself (all rights held by them).

Laurinlahti beach

Stopped at yet another beach while driving back from home. Can't imagine I haven't been here before: Laurinlahden uimaranta (Lauri's bay beach). Very nice. Compact, clean, necessary facilities... nice water. Also good that they have a long pier to swim from, unless one wants to swim from the sand, like I did.

Tony Hagerlund's blog talks about the beach here. It is also called the Tyrskyvuoren uimaranta (Splash Mountain beach).

Coordinates are N 60.145928 E 24.636327.

Photos:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken from the outside or when the facility is closed or empty or there's no swimmers.

Metropolitan Sport Club & Spa in Madrid's Eurobuilding

While at a conference in Madrid, I stayed at the NH Collection hotel in the Eurobuilding. This hotel has a spa and gym. While it was separately paid and not inexpensive (30€), it was a quite nice for a hotel spa! Nice big Finnish sauna, a Turkish sauna, ice bucket, multiple pools, etc. The main pool was maybe 15 meters long and narrow, just enough space for 2-3 at the same time. But very much enjoyed this visit!

Link to their web page on the NH hotel side here and in the Metropolitan club side here.

By the way, I don't usually appreciate hotel restaurants much, but the "99 Sushi Bar" was just wonderful. Costs north of 100€ per person, though. Link here.

Entrance:

Pool:

Hotel:

Restaurant:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken from the outside or when the facility is closed or empty. The pool and sauna pictures are by the hotel, all rights reserved by them.

Sala VIP Dali -- Iberia's Madrid Airport Lounge

I was at a conference in Madrid. When flying out, my status at Finnair earned me a spot at the Iberia's Sala VIP Dali, their lounge. Nice experience overall. This was at breakfast time, and there was a decent breakfast foods available. I also liked the airport design.

The aircraft we flew on was wet leased from Iberia to fly for Finnair. Lunch was good. The only complaint I had was the the WiFi did not work on flight to Madrid, at all, either for free based on business class seat or for a fee. On the way back it didn't work for free, even if supposed to, but it did work if I paid for it. I don't know if this is a Finnair-Iberia thing, or the fact that my business class seat was an upgrade, not a properly bought one, or just some usual IT problems... guessing the latter is most likely.

Temperatures between Spain and Finland seemed awfully similar...

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Midnight swim at the cottage

Arrived late from Madrid. And not only that, but the car's ventilation was broken, so drove to the cottage only late in the evening. Arrived shortly after 11pm, and did a swim at midnight. Such bliss, water was very warm but still cooled us down a bit, everything was quiet, the darkness had set in, lake had no waves. Nice!

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Ventilation ... no ventilation

Driving on a heatwave day, now back in Finland. Theres never been air conditioning in the Volvo but now the fan also has given up. Or the switch; no spare parts. Windows can still be opened.

More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.