Naantalin Kylpylä

[khiemtran]

So, now that those Russian cybercriminals have given up trying to stop me...

Remember that giant yacht I pointed out earlier?




Looks like it's just dropped in for a visit, right?

Well, turns out, it's not going anywhere. It's permanently bolted to the side of a hotel, where it serves as a permanent wing of extra rooms.



A wider view... There was some debate over whether it was actually still functional as a yacht, but the consensus seemed to be that it probably wasn't.



And, up close. Unfortunately, it was so big up close that I couldn't really get a good picture of it. This thing was huge.



The hotel itself turned out to be quite famous (kylpylä means "spa" or "bath" and the English name is just the "Naantali Spa Hotel"). It also has what it claims is the best Thai restaurant in Finland, which is quite possibly true. Certainly, it was priced that way.

As an aside, Thai is also one of those secret travel languages. It seems that just about everywhere you go in Western or Central restaurant, you can find a Thai restaurant and someone to talk to.

I stayed in the non-yacht portion of the hotel, as shown below.



One surprising thing, as I mentioned earlier, was that the curtains only seemed to colour the light, instead of shutting it out. This meant it was quite bright in the rooms until quite late at night.



I slept really well though. In the interests of full disclosure, the above shot was taken in the morning, not the night, but it was still bright until nearly 11 pm each night.

The hotel was also pleasantly warm. I was in the lift one time when a red-faced woman entered and asked Puhutko Suomea?, ("Do you speak Finnish?"). When no-one in the lift responded straight away, she switched to English. "This hotel is F---ING HOT!" Then, when some Finns entered at the next floor, she said what I gather was the same thing in Finnish.

Next stop... Helsinki.

Comments

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Wow, stunning photos. Especially that yacht. What a good idea - extending onto the water and being theoretically a temporary structure probably avoids full planning permission for an extension. Also, I imagine buying the yacht intact was a lot cheaper than building a new wing would have been. I wonder how it copes with the water freezing in winter?

Excellent shot of the room and the light.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

We were also discussing whether the yacht could be used for evacuation in the event of some natural disaster. Although some people thought it didn't have an engine and was probably towed into place.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

The photos are great. I wonder what it's like staying in the yacht part? I hope the cabins are bigger than they normally are on board ship.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I was thinking. Although the cabins looked to be quite generous from the outside.