SWIM OFF THE MINCE PIES – OPEN AIR, SUNLIGHT AND THE BEACH!
January 4th, 2007
When you´ve had a hard day at work and your back is aching from sitting at your computer all day, there is nothing better than going for a swim! I spent a long time looking for a fitness centre in Barcelona with a decent-sized swimming pool for some proper sports in the evening. I need the action now more than ever, after a festive season packed with chocolate, mince pies and many days spent lazing around!
Barcelona has hundreds of possibilities, many different fitness centres and a shocking range of prices.
However, many of the private and expensive heath clubs have tiny pools, if they have a pool at all, and then many of the larger pools in the city are just not so nice really! I have been in changing rooms that sparkle, with complimentary hairdryers and make-up essentials, but which have tiny swimming pools just about long enough to have a little stretch in! And then I have been in 50m long city pools for a good workout, but these are often full of screaming groups of school kids and you have to stand and change in the not-so-great changing rooms with dirty floors and incredible noise levels. I just could not find what I was looking for. I am not the gym type – I don´t like the puffing and panting and public sweating that comes with it and so I have always been a swimmer instead, preferring to hide my exhaustion under the cool water!
I was checking out different sports centres all over the city, both private and council-owned for a long while, when a friend suggested a fitness centre close to the beach, in Barceloneta!
The ´Club Natación Barcelona´ is amazing for swimmers but also for gym fanatics! The facilities are great. As well as swimming and the fitness centre, you can join hundreds of different classes and training sessions. Membership is extremely cheap for what is on offer, at 32 euros a month (with an initial registration fee also). There is a large indoor pool and a HEATED OUTDOOR POOL! It is invigorating to be swimming outside in the middle of winter!!! This means I can go for a swim until 9 or 10 o´clock at night in this 25m long, clean and relaxing pool, under the moonlight, where there are no groups of noisy kids but instead a peaceful night view over the beach and the ocean! It is the most relaxing thing to do in the evening to stay fit and to burn off the extra Christmas calories! When you climb out of the heated water into the cold evening air you feel great, prancing around outside in your bikini after exercise, when you know that others are walking around the city wrapped in hats and scarfes! Make sure you take a long look over the beautiful empty beach before going back inside for a hot shower!
- Hege -
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 3:44 pm and is filed under General Barcelona, Other, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
