Swimming at the Imperial Palace

The Imperial Palace ... and a swim at their Crystal Spa. Even from the names you can tell that this is a high-level experience. The Palace is the highest end hotel in Annecy, and it is by the lake. It is a nicely renovated classic building from 1912. Even the smallest rooms can run up to 700 € per night at busy times, though we stayed here for much less, on a very nice day but with less crowds. Crystal Spa is their spa facility. Much recommended!

The spa has a Finnish sauna, a Turkish bath, and a nice glass-walled pool with water jets on one end. There's also relaxation areas and multiple different showers, an ice pile to rub yourself with some nice cool ice pellets, etc.

I liked their special showers quite a bit, with misty rain and color lights. But my favourite was the sauna, it was just the right temperature and materials for a Finnish sauna. Not too mild, not too hot, nicely warm wood on the seats and on the back support, could lay down on your towel if you want, etc.

The pool looked spectacular of course as you can see from the photos, but it was also warm, so you didn't feel like having to take a cold plunge when getting in, like it sometimes is in other hotel pools. Warm is good!

The windows from the spa area are directly towards the park and the lake, you feel like you are in the nature already.

A time slot needs to be booked at the spa to get there, even if you are a hotel guest. The slots are one hour long, I think, and you can choose to get either a slot where kids are or are not allowed in. A maximum of thirty people can come in at any one time.

Links: the hotel's own page, spa's page, 

City views:

The spa pool:

The sauna:

And here's a view from the hotel rooms on the side of the hotel. We had a partial view room, some rooms have city views and the best ones would have head-on view to 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. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken when the facility is closed or empty, or photos are provided by the facility. In this case the photos 1, 5, and 6 were provided with permission by the hotel (with them holding all rights of course).

This "cave" will have to do this week

Business trip to Brussels, are there caves? Sadly, there are no caves in town, and I don't have enough free time in the evenings to venture outside. However, there's an intriguing thing in town: a copy of the famous Grotte de Lourdes from France. A chapel or a place of worship.

The "cave" is indeed man-made. It was was erected in 1913 by the Archbishop of Mechelen, Cardinal Mercier, and Father Swalus as the first parish priest. Contractors were hired to do the construction ... interesting.

And this isn't the only copy. Just around Brussels there are several. Then around Europe, North-America, and throughout the world. What's going on? It all comes to Grotte de Massabielle, located in Lourdes in Hautes-Pyrénées, France. But that cave is mostly known as the Grotte de Lourdes, a Catholic pilgrimage site.

The story goes back to 1858, when a 14-year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous said she saw 18 apparitions of Virgin Mary in the cave. Apparitions are supernatural appearances of a person or phantoms. Bernadette's statements sparked controversy and investigations and counter-investigations. Crowds gathered to attempt to witness the apparitions, city blocked access to limit the crowds, but Bernadette stood firm and stood by the barriers to the cave. 

Then, in 1862 the emperor allowed re-opening the access to the cave, and bishop stated that the church believed in what Bernadette had seen:

"We are […] convinced that the Apparition is supernatural and divine, and that, consequently, what Bernadette saw was the Most Holy Virgin"

Virgin Mary has since then be called "Our Lady of Lourdes", and several churches were constructed near the cave: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The events were well documented, and received wide attention. They also bear resemblance to other sightings of the Virgin Mary few years earlier, which also caused a lot of controversy in France. And of course, the Pyrenees have been a path for the pilgrims to travel through, and the interest in Virgin Mary has risen several times, as well as of course being promoted by the Catholic Church. The pope had recently spoken about immaculate conception, for instance.

In 1863, Marie-Elfride and Marie-Sabine de Lacour commissioned a statue for Our Lady of the Lourdes in a niche high up in the cave. The statue was created by artist Joseph-Hugues Fabisch. The statue is similar to what there is in Brussels, see the opening picture of this post.

Today, the grotto in Lourdes receives millions of visitors yearly. There's a large number of copies of the cave built around the world, on all continents. Just in Canada there are 72 Grottes de Lourdes! See the full list of copies here.

The original Grotte de Lourdes has been protected as a historic site since 1995.

Read more about the cave in Brussels from Wikipedia or the official home page. And about the Grotto of Lourdes also from Wikipedia or from the official visitor page.

The Brussels one is at the coordinates N 50.875570 E 4.337648, and the original Grotto de Lourdes is at N 43.097595 W 0.058708.

Photos:

Park where the cave is in:

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. 

Thermae Grimbergen

(Photo by Thermae Grimbergen)

Thermae Grimbergen is in the outskirts of Brussels, I chose it as an affordable hotel for my business trip.  The Thermae looked like a regular hotel, and a small spa, split among multiple buildings. The entrance to the spa was downstairs past the reception in the main building, and I expected a usual basement spa experience. But, it turned out that the buildings were just a front to what was hidden behind: a lush garden with a pond, more than a dozen different saunas and endless relaxation spaces. You wouldn't think the city exists outside the garden.

The opening photo above is of the pond on the center of the garden in the spa. Water was quite nice, when I tried in the darkness of the evening.

The spa is independent of the hotel, anyone can visit the spa, and hotel guests also pay an entrance fee unless it is part of the package they signed up to. The entrance fees are quite reasonable, 34.90 or 32.90€ on weekends or weekdays, but if you enter after 5pm you get a 50% discount, leaving just a bit over 16 €. This is a bargain! And I didn't have a chance to visit during the day anyway, as I was in meetings in Brussels and coming back late in the evenings. 

There's two parts in the spa, the naked "Aquarius" side and the swimsuit side, "Sabai". Note that shorts -type swimming pants are not allowed on the Saibai side, men get your speedos ready :-) 

The Sabai side has two traditional saunas, one infrared, and one steam bath. There is an indoor-outdoor relaxation pool and two outdoor pools, plunge pools and a floating pool. Read more about the swimsuit side here.

The Aquarius side is larger, there's a total of ten saunas:

• The Celestite sauna
• The African Lodge sauna
• The Tibetan sauna
• The Kelosauna (built on kelos, naturally dried logs that are commonly used in the Finnish Lapland)
• Wood sSove sauna
• Herbal sauna
• Black Forest sauna
• Roman steam bath
• Cold sauna
• Tepidarium

My personal favorites were the Kelosauna and the Black Forest sauna. Both are also near the pond, which you can also dip into. But I probably liked them most for their closeness to the Finnish sauna experience which I'm so used to. Dry but hot... wood rather than tiles... and close to the nature. The Kelosauna is massive, could hold dozens and dozens of people. But late in the night I got it all to myself :-) 

There's also a champagne bath (a jacuzzi), another jacuzzi, and an indoor-outdoor swimming pool.

Read more about the Aquarius side here.

Thermae Grimbergen is 11.7 kilometers from the airport to the west, and also 11.7 kilometers from the city center to the north. It is located in the countryside village of Grimbergen, a nice village with a definite medieval twist. Roads passed through the area already in Roman times, and the first fort was built in the 8th century.

All in all, much recommended place to visit! I only wish I had more time to enjoy it -- need to come next time on a tourist trip and stay the full day, get relaxed :-) 

More photos of the Thermae below. 

First the hotel part. Here is where I stayed in, one of the hotel buildings, this one being on the street:

And this is the nightly view of the spa entrance itself (which is in a different building):

And in daylight:

Here's the kelosauna that I liked a lot, but all saunas were good:

(Photo by Thermae Grimbergen)

(Photo by Thermae Grimbergen)

And a view from my hotel room (this is a different pond than the one we swim in the spa):

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 when the facility is closed or empty, or photos are provided by the facility. In this case, Thermae Grimbergen has graciously provided the photos 1, 5, and 6 above.

Unreliable luggage

I had a Samsonite hard case for couple of decades, but when the locking mechanism broke I ditched it and got a new modern Samsonite. Nice looking case, but ... unfortunately the quality wasn't what I was used in the previous Samsonites. The case broke on first trip, corner broken. Ok, perhaps the airline mistreated it but still..  then I got a new one on airline's cost. And another one later when it started having zipper problems. 

Then the third had also had zipper problems. And you can't fix the zippers, their repair facility can not fix those. Why??? What kind of sustainable operation is one where the most likely to break item can't be replaced?

I've been using them occasionally, but always taped to hold together, or with a rope binding the case together. Still, even if I can make the zippers close, I often find the zipper having come open after a trip. I can't rely on them for anything relevant, so I have to ditch them.

I'm an unhappy customer. Anyone have a recommendation for lightweight but durable cases?

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. 

Kiuaskallio late session. Very late.

Visited my friends Duncan and Suvi near Jalasjärvi, and was surprised to find out that there's a ski hill. It was late April... they won't operate this late, but would there be any snow left? No ski resorts on my way here had any snow left.

And they did! A bit of iron content in the snow and ice that was left, but ok... snow is snow and ice is ice. I managed to ski in yet another Finnish ski resort, even if it was closed!

Seemed like a very nice ski resort by the way, modern and good looking restaurant building, a fire place cottage at the bottom... all good. And near the city center. Well done, Jalasjärvi!

The ski resort is at the coordinates N 62.506018 E 22.763923. The official pages are here.

Kiuaskallio was actually only my third option to ski. Duncan had told me that there was a nearby slope on a river canyon that was well shaded and he had seen it covered by snow just a few days ago. Unfortunately, it turned out to be almost melted now:

The second option was a snow dumping grounds in Jalasjärvi. No,  not on my good skis:

Finally, the Kiuaskallio. Suvi had told me that a local Facebook group had a post about there still being snow on the hill. Finally, a success :-)

It was only after doing all the skiing that I realized that there's also a gun range right next to the slopes. Luckily no one took me for target practice...

Skiing:

Grilling hut at the ski resort:

Signs:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.

Swimming hall on floor -8

Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere. I was told there was a swimming hall here, an underground one. Usually there'd be some signs but now I see nothing, at least not at the parking lot. But the map points to the yard of the nearby apartment block, so after walking just 50 meters I see the entrance, a small concrete building is the only thing that sticks out above ground.

There's a stair and elevator option to go down, the stairs seems more fun. There's a nice step counter on the intermediate levels, 128 steps down to floor -8. And the swimming pool is actually 13 more steps down from the saunas and dressing rooms, so maybe floor -9 and 141 steps.  

The swimming hall is 30 meters underground. It has been built into the tunnels under Hervanta that are reportedly three kilometers long, and including parking space, ice skating hall, and the swimming hall & gym. All spaces are used also as emergency shelters.

Nice. This reminds me of course of the Itäkeskus swimming hall, but in a smaller and cozier style. Itäkeskus has so many people, multiple pools, and nooks where the few screaming kids will cause an interesting sound experience.

But none of that in Hervanta. The place is quiet, I get my own lane in the pool, though perhaps Easter Sunday is having an impact on the visitor counts. There's only one main pool, 25 meters plus one kiddie pool. The dressing rooms and saunas are on separate sides for men and women but otherwise placed equally at the same level. Everything is nice and fresh, while the hall is from the 1978, there's been a recent renovation in 2019-2021. The saunas and showers in particular are in impeccable condition. Two very nice, small saunas on each side.

Much recommended!

The official web page is here. The Wikipedia article with some more information is here.

Entrance:

Pool (photo by Tampereen Kaupunki):

Entrance sign & elevator:

Staircase:

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 when the facility is closed or empty. In this case all my photos are from the outside, and the inside photo is by Tampereen Kaupunki, again all rights reserved. 

Caves around Annecy, France

I had a chance to visit Lac d'Annecy and surroundings last weekend. It is a wonderful area, much closer to nature than the bustling megacity Geneve nearby. Lakes, mountains, and .. caves! Visited three very different caves, Grotte du Grand Pertuis that was only reachable by boat from the lake, Grotte de l'ermitage by high up above the lake and under a church (where the founder of the monastery and church lived for 40 years), and finally closer to Geneve and on the mountains, Grotte du Diable, a mud-infested pit of the devil. Very nice!

Video:

The Grotte du Grand Pertuis cave is in Talloires-Montmin, coordinates N 45.841638 E 6.194382. It is the cave that can only be reached by a boat. The cave is a crack in an inside corner of the massive cliff covering this side of the lake.

You can drive the boat all the way to the cave.

Photos: 

There were also small other rock holes, like this one with some kayakers camping in:

By the way, on the way on the lake be sure to stop around these coordinates N 45.833635 E 6.206131 to check out the remains of pillars for an ancient village from the times when the lake level was lower.  See more information here. Here's a picture of the water ... there's a pillar right under that reflection, trust me :-)

The next cave was Grotte de l'Ermitage, the one under the church. It is also in Talloires-Montmin, coordinates N 45.841974 E 6.222744.

There's a church, a chapel, and just under the church goes a small road. Few tens of meters forward on that road there's a path that leads downwards. The cave is there.

Saint Hermain, the founder of the church, lived as a hermit in this solitary spot for the last forty years of his life. The site has been visited by pilgrims for a thousand years.

On the path there are rock pillars, stations. The stations represent the painful journey that Jesus walked towards the Calvary.

Photos of the cave: 

The church and surroundings:

And a map:

I also scanned the cave, here's a GLB file for the 3D model, a rotate-on-your-browser link, a PDF for the map, and a picture of the plan view part of the map:

The final cave was the devil's mud-infested hole, Grotte du Diable in Le Sappey, just south of Geneve, coordinates N 46.088003 E 6.135531.

Photos, first the entrance and the main room:

Then a set of mud holes (that I did not crawl into):

Views to the outside:

Signage:

Again, I scanned the cave using my iPhone's LiDAR Scanner. Here's the resulting 3D model in GLB format, a PDF of the map I generated from it, a rotate-on-your-browser link, and a picture of the plan view part of the map:

If you visit here, check out also the ruins of the old restaurant (?), in these coordinates: N 46.088700 E 6.134722. This is also where you can park for the cave. 

Photos:

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.