Athens airport

Had a chance to fly to and from the Athens airport, coming in on KLM and flying out with Lufthansa. It is a nice airport. Not having had time to eat breakfast, I particularly liked that the even at the downstairs bus gates there were kiosks with warm food on offer. Usually those kinds of gates are void of any services. Well done.

I was a bit worried coming in to the airport that I'd have a problem with my ticket - my second name was wrong in the ticket. Turned out that no one batted one eyelid on this, so had no problem. Good.

At the Athens airport one can see many different airlines, e.g., this one from the training airlines:

Flying out I had a Lufthansa A321, the D-AISD. It looked so shiny that I wanted to know if I was on its first few flights. How wrong I was, though. The plane is from year 2000, 25 and half years old. I guess it must have been at a paint shop recently. Great that Lufthansa takes good care of their planes!

The Athens airport official name is Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, or briefly just Athens International Airport. The airport code is ATH. It is technically not in Athens, but in a city called Spata. The airport homepage is here, and the Wikipedia article here.

It is fortunate that the airport has a direct rail link to the most commonly used ferry port to the islands, the Piraeus port. It is one of the largest ports in Europe, a massive facility. Getting to the airport from the port does take more than an hour even with the fastest direct trains, and slightly less than an hour by taxi. But it can be difficult to get to early or even afternoon flights from the islands, depending on ferry schedules. 

When I landed at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, it was emptier than I had ever seen it. Literally no one else at the airport:

This article has also been published in Planetflier.com here. For more flying stories, check out the Planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Spilia Beach Bar - obviously with a cave

One would expect there to be plenty of caves in mountainous Greek islands, but it didn't seem to be the case for Idea. There are some beach caves, however, the easiest to access being right in the main village, Hydra, at the "Spilia Beach Bar". That, is the cave beach bar. 

Under the bar there are some swimming places, not really beaches but stairs leading to the sea. And right next to them is the cave. It is indeed a beach cave, carved by the sea forces. There's a gaping hole at the top of it, and the rock seems .. awfully thin at the top. Maybe that's why the hole has been covered by a net and signposted for no one to walk above the cave. Or swim into the cave either. 

Of course, I swam to the cave.

But please, please do not swim to the cave. It is actually dangerous. And walking above would be madness, the roof is going to collapse at any moment.

The cave is at these coordinates: N 37.352033 E 23.463300. The beach bar link is here.

And right next to the bar there's a restaurant, the Sunset Restaurant, and behind it is a bar, the Hydronetta Cocktail-bar that is the best place on the island for watching sunsets. Recommended!

There are obviously beaches also on the island, even one sandy one and another pebble beach, both near Hydra. See my other article (alt.link) for the details.

The island of Idea can be reached from Athens by ferries, e.g., the Magic Sea Ferries line runs there 1-4 times a day depending on season and day. One way tickets are around 40€.

Bar:

Sunset:

Ferry:

This article has also been published in Planetswimmer.com here. Read the full series of urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or Planetskier web site. And of course the full Planetskier skiing article series at planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Idra beaches

A Greek island has to have nice beaches, right? They do in the island of Idra, though not all beaches may be sandy... some may be pebbles, others may be just ladders to the water from the cliffs. In any case, the water is superb, views are great, and there's excellent food available. This article discusses three remarkable beaches that one should at least visit on Idra.

My first beach to visit was, of course, the Spilia Beach Bar, the one with a cave :-) Its coordinates are N 37.353522 E 23.485235. The beach is kind of a misnomer, as there's only a ladder to descend to the sea, several around the beach bar area and towards west. Not easy to get to the water, and if there's any wave action going on, it may be difficult to get back. as well. Be careful here. But, there's a cave...

The second beach is Paralia Kaminia (Παραλία Καμίνια), a very nice beach about 20 minutes walk west from the Hydra port. Its coordinates are N 37.346508 E 23.455254. It is located between the sea and a castle that hosts a restaurant. (The restaurant may not be open at all times of the year, though, it wasn't for instance open when I visited the beach.)

It is a pebble beach, swimming shoes may be useful, they would have been for me at least :-) 

It may be the best beach within close proximity of the Hydra town. And also a good place to watch sunsets!

And the third beach is Paralia Mandraki (Παραλία Μανδρακι), possibly the best beach in all of the Idra island. Sandy beach, how about that? Also, there's a nice restaurant and a luxury hotel, the Mandraki Beach resort (map link, home page) right by the beach. I can recommend the sushi for instance, it was fabulous!

Mandraki is a 40-minute walk from Hydra to the east. But you could catch a boat taxi from Hydra port to get here if you don't want to walk. The cost is one way around 30€, though that may have been a high tourist price.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Or all blog articles from Blogspot or Planetskier web site. And of course the full Planetskier skiing article series at planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. No nearby beachgoers have been photographed.

A Refreshing Dip at Åkeshov Swimming Hall

It was a dark and rainy night when I made my way to Åkeshov sports hall for a swim :-) but the journey was surprisingly pleasant. Stockholm's public transport never cease to impress, the bus ride was smooth and comfortable, complete with USB charging ports on every seat. 

Åkeshov hall itself is straightforward, you get to swim and there's minimal hassle. Except maybe for the locks. In Sweden the swimming halls don't have locks, you have to bring your own. They sell you one but I always forget to take one when I leave for a trip to Sweden, so by now I have couple of dozen locker locks home :-)

But back to Åkeshov. They have two full 25-meter pools alongside a dedicated children's pool, offering plenty of space whether you're doing serious laps or bringing the family. The water was not super warm but just right I guess for doing laps. There was a sauna.. quite decent one, for Sweden :-) They were hot enough, though I always wonder about the dress code. In Finland you are strictly required to have no swimming clothes in the (gender specific) saunas. But here apparently most people but not all have pants on.

Obviously, the swimming hall isn't a flashy spa or wellness center. Dressing rooms show their age a bit, but everything was still clean and efficient. The hall itself was opened in 1959, but there must have been several rounds of renovations in between, insides felt maybe late 1980s style, and dressing rooms maybe 1990s or early 2000s. There's a community swimming club who were this time busy setting up a competition or event.

Link to their home page is here. And the Wikipedia article is here.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Or all blog articles from Blogspot or Planetskier web site. And of course the full Planetskier skiing article series at planetskier.net. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.  Pool photo by Stockholm city (taken from here), all rights reserved by them.

Flying Finnair's washed A321s

Finnair has managed yet another unnecessary screw-up: washing their A321 seat covers using water, when dry cleaning would have been the approved method to avoid the fire repellent treatment to deteriorate. The previous screw-ups included ground collisions that damaged one of their wide body aircraft for instance. And this is on top of the incredibly long period of strikes and flight cancellations.

They had to manufacture new seat covers, and eight A321s were out of action. I was slightly inconvenienced due to this as well, as my flight to Stockholm was cancelled. Fortunately there was another flight that they put me on. 

Although it was an hour earlier... and I was coming in 1am from the previous trip. I left the airport six hours before returning back there again, managed to get a couple of hours of sleep and wash my clothes, but I was tired. Granted, I would have been tired even if the time was seven hours instead of six. So I can only look at the mirror.

This article has also been published in Planetflier.com here. For more flying stories, check out the Planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Kangasala swimming hall

Had to pick up the car from Kangasala, near Tampere, after the breakdown (alt.link). They had fixed it for mere 40€, though only a temporary fix: the heating system is now bypassed, so now heating in the rainy fall weather. But, on the positive side I managed to get a swim in a new place: the Kangasala swimming hall.

The swimming hall is quite nice. It is called "kuohu" or "sparkling". Nice name! 

Two saunas on each side, and altogether seven pools:

- main 25 meter pool

- jumping pool

- teaching pool

- kiddie pool

- cold plunge pool

- two therapy pools (they call them a multi-function pool and a waterfall pool)

The home page for the swimming hall is here. There's also a hotel called Kuohu as as well next to the swimming hall.

Back to the car: I managed well to get home, windows were easily clear. A visit to my local repair shop had them scrambling for spare parts for a proper fix. Let's see if that is even possible. And there's a looming deadline in a bit over a month of the next check-up, not sure I should invest in this car any extra money until I know what's ahead if it...

Photos from outside the swimming hall:

The hotel:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot or Planetskier.net. 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.

Far-away breakdown, sigh

Another surprise Volvo breakdown. Beyond towing back home distance, so car is being towed to Kangasala. Coolant hose connector broken. Now on the train towards Helsinki, after riding first on the tow truck and then a taxi.

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