Around The World in Eight...Swimming Pools with Jon Baines

I have always enjoyed swimming. It is a great way to relax and when traveling, helps me adjust to different time zones, stretch after traveling, and, if a public pool, gain a little insight into a locality. Favourite pools can be indoor or outdoor, manmade or natural, surrounded by rainforest or skyscrapers, but they all have something special. So, in no particular order…

‍Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
‍First opened in 1908 in Fitzroy in inner city Melbourne, this 50-metre outdoor pool is great for lap swimming year round. It became popular with the area’s Italian immigrants from the 1950’s. The famous hand-painted sign Danger Deep Water / Aqua Profonda sign was put up in1954 by the pool manager, Mr Murthy, who was constantly rescuing migrant children from the deep end of the pool. Mr Murphy asked an Italian friend what the words for "deep water" were in Italian and had them painted at the deep end (misspelling “aquca”). The pool was saved from closure by a local campaign in the 1990’s. These days it’s a popular community pool and they often have a DJ set with music on a Sunday.

‍Brockwell Lido, Brockwell Park, South London, UK
In some ways this could be Fitzroy’s partner in London. Originally a bathing lake when it opened in 1892, it became a 50-metre outdoor pool in 1934 until 1990, when it closed, re-opening after a campaign succeeded in having it restored. In addition to the pool, it now has a sauna, sunbathing terraces, a gym, a rather excellent pizza restaurant and an active Friends group. Located on the side of a park between urban Brixton and leafy suburban Dulwich, the pool’s audience and atmosphere changes throughout the day.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Budapest, Hungary
Located in Budapest’s City Park, these lovely ornate baths were built in 1908 and are perhaps better for wallowing in the thermal waters than swimming. I have a picture of my wife and daughter in the water in late December. Snow surrounds them as steam rises off the pool where locals play chess on floating boards. I was standing holding a cold beer, steaming from the hot water as snow fell on me. Next to me was a large fountain where steaming water came out at the top and icicles were created at the bottom.

Barton Springs Municipal Pool, Austin Texas, USA
‍When I fly into the US from Australia, I like to start in Austin, with a visit to Barton Springs Municipal Pool. The pool is large (3 acres) and thermal and (unlike Széchenyi )it is warm rather than hot, so good for swimming. The Springs are home to the Barton Springs Salamander and apparently Robert Redford learnt to swim here. The surrounding parklands are attractive and an enjoyable place to rest and meet the locals. Perfect before enjoying Austin’s famous Tex Mex food and live music scene.

Margo Utomo Spice Farm, East Java, Indonesia
‍The least known and smallest of my selected pools, but a little gem. Margo Utomo is a spice farm and hotel nestling in a river valley in verdant east Java. The crescent shaped pool is positioned above a river, and across from a rising bank of lush, tropical vegetation. The rush of the river water, the bird song and the stunning surrounding landscapes, make for a magical swim.

Intercontinental Grand Stamford Hotel, Hong Kong
Again a smaller pool, but this time the setting could not be more different.  The pool is atop the Grand Stamford Hotel, located in bustling Tsim Sha Tsui across the water from Hong Kong Island. The views from the pool as you swim are amazing as the impressive Hong Kong skyline rises above Victoria Harbour, fabulous by day or night.

Foz de Iguazu, Argentina
‍The largest waterfalls in the world, higher than Niagara and wider than Victoria Falls. As Eleanor Roosevelt put it when seeing the Iguazu Falls, ‘Poor Niagara.’ A few kilometres from the main falls, there is a swimming area with smaller falls. Here you swim in the rainforest and when I swam here, we were surrounded by clouds of yellow butterflies.

Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia
‍Should I have two Australia Pools and include a pool where I have yet to swim?  Well, I do live here and will at some point swim here, and Australia has done well in the Olympic Pool. In any case this is an iconic, historic and spectacular swimming pool. Opened in 1929, the 50-metre saltwater pool located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, is never heated, is open year round and is fully licensed. A worthy inclusion to my list.