Omorika - swimming in the old Yugoslavia army hotel

This really is an experience. An old Yugoslavia army hotel, now a tourist destination? Omorika sits in the Tara mountains in southeastern Serbia, close to the Bosnian border. The architecture is just right, it does say Yugoslavia. While the all-inclusive model in an affordable hotel may not be to everyone's tastes, it was quite reasonable experience, fish for dinner, etc. And the saunas and pools were good, even if the other facilities were a bit 1960s...

Much recommended anyway! Wonderful nature hiking opportunities, etc. (See for instance the Rafter's cave visit.)

In the winter they would have skiing, sadly I was here in late spring :-)

Spa:

Environment:

Skiing slopes:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.  I never photograph pools, beaches or saunas unless the facility is closed or empty. 

Rafter's cave in Perućac

Rafter's cave was a surprise find, a sudden realization of a sign on a parking spot in Perućac we pulled onto. A cave! By this incredibly beautiful river, Trina, marking the border between Serbia and Bosnia.

The cave is in coordinates N 43.957657 E 19.431314.

I scanned the cave and got a 3D model and a used Cave Outliner to turn it into a map as well:

The 3D model can be downloaded here, or if you prefer to rotate it on your browser's screen, use this link.

There's also a side cave few meters away, in coordinates N 43.957602 E 19.431462.

Photos:

Side cave:

Photos from the area:

Views from mountains higher up to the river valley:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Too early at the airport yawn

This was way too early to be past security at the airport, 3:59 AM. (Falls asleep...)

I blame Lufthansa timetables in Finland for this. Or their too early wave times in Munich and Frankfurt. 6:00 AM flights are their standard out of Finland! Brutal, I say, brutal...

Or should I say Air Baltic? Apparently they are flying Lufthansa's routes between Helsinki and Munich now.

But the hattifatteners (hattivatit in Finnish) were already up, energized early....

But the real problem is that the more dangerous wildlife was also up early at the airport. And I don't refer to the 6am,drunken tourists at the Oak Barrel bar, I refer to the bears. Yes, bears. In the so called relaxation areas:

It was very nice to see Munich airport clearly from the airport as we fly past it to land from the other direction:

Other flying pictures:

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) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Genuine accessories

No Volvo news, but invested €15 in a wash and loaded it with my fav accessories.

More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko.

Hotel Vema Spa

Hotel Vema is a brand new hotel in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Visoko is a small town near Sarajevo, maybe a 20 minute drive away. It is perhaps best know for the Bosnian pyramids, pyramid shape mountains that some claim actually are ancient pyramids. More on that story later... but for now, we will focus on this wonderful hotel! 

It really is a relaxing design with its spacious, modern, and yet warm and quit decor. But the best part is the Vema Spa, a stunning sauna and pool area. And yet, hotel rooms are quite affordable, can be sub-100€ per night for instance.

The hotel sits on a higher-than-the-rest-of-the-city building and has a shopping mall in the lowest floors. At the top there's a bar. On one side of the hotel there's a climbing wall from the bottom to the top.

It is rare to ask for a "pyramid view" when one checks to a hotel. We were supposedly going to get one, but in reality one has to be in the highest floor to properly see the pyramid (mountain). Fortunately, this is easy by visiting the bar.

Climbing wall:

Sauna and spa areas:

Hotel general spaces were also quite spacious, airy, and nice. Each floor had several lounging spaces, for instance:

Here's a view from the hotel's top floor towards the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun. Is it a pyramid, thoughts? :-)

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.  I never photograph pools, beaches or saunas unless the facility is closed or empty. In this case the photos were taken after closing time, and with staff permission.

Sveitsin uimala - Switzerland swimming in Hyvinkää

After my visit to Usmi, I felt like I *really* needed to have a shower. And a sauna and swim would be a bonus. Fortunately, Hyvinkää's Sveitsin Uimala was nearby. Very, very nice. Indoor and outdoor pools (from June 1st), multiple pools, very nice saunas, clean, and at a nice pine forest area on top of the hill.

Much recommended. 

There's two 25 meter pools, water slides, two saunas etc.

For more info, check their web page here.

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never photograph pools, beaches or saunas unless the facility is closed or empty. The outdoor pool photographed above was not yet open in May, for instance.

The Usmi shelter cave in Hyvinkää

I was inspired to go here by Antti Huttunen's article in Retkipaikka. There's a forgotten, hard-to-access rocky hill and cliff area in Hyvinkää: Usminkalliot. With a cave!

Usminkalliot seems like a forgotten place, not very widely known. I did not know about it, for instance, despite visiting Hyvinkää frequently. It natural protection areas also a bit hard to reach, no easy parking nearby that I could find, and while there are some roads, the road sides have houses block access to the forests and hills beyond in some places. But you will find a way :-)

Once you get to Usminkalliot, it is a wonder of nature! It is a high hill, nice views from the top. And at the bottom there's a deep valley and a stream/rapids running at the valley bottom. The caves are reachable by walking on the east bank of the stream (there is a place for crossing though). At first I went to the top of the cliff, and getting down seemed difficult, but in the end as I continued north there was a path down towards the streams. The map and coordinates are not super helpful for finding the cave, as ar some point I was just ten meters from the cave horizontally, but thirty meters too high :-)

At the bottom of the valley one finds also some large chunks of ice, shielded by the deep shadowy walls:

Usminkallion lippaluola (the main shelter cave) is roughly 25 meters wide and up to 5 meters deep towards the cliff. The coordinates are N 60.65167928 E 24.78369635. I scanned the cave using my iPhone, and then used my "Cave Outliner" software to draw a map of it. See below for a picture of the map and a 3D model:

But a full PDF version of the map is here, and an on-screen rotatable version of the 3D model is here.

Pictures of the cave:

Here are pictures of the stream:

Here's a view from the top of the Usminkallio hill:

Antti reported that there's a possible old quarry. Maybe. Here's what I saw:

There was also a couple of tiny mini-cavelets:

Usminkallion lippakolo (tiny shelter, 1x1m): N 60.65200429 E 24.78317339. See below:

Usminkallion lipparako (shelter crack, 5x1m): N 60.65143561 E 24.78403741. See below:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko, map picture is a snapshot from Google Maps. All rights reserved.