Hotel Olšanka

Rating: 6 on a scale of 10. A Soviet-era pool. Two lanes set for laps, two for recreation; loose lane lines. Fight the breaststrokers.

On a Tuesday morning, at 7 AM, it was not possible to swim laps in this pool. There were five roped lanes, of which two are wide and used for instruction, and three were very narrow, such that passing was not possible. I was so desperate for a swim that I tried to manoever around the breast strokers, but gave up after half a lap.

One can swim laps here, even though the pool is unstriped and only one lane is roped off. The many breaststroking Czechs were polite and respected my back and forth imaginary lane. Forget flip turns, there are no warning lines and both thebottom and wall are water blue, so it’s hard to judge where the pool ends. The water temperature was pretty good and locker room was clean.