Swimming in big cities: Paris jumps into the Seine: river bathing in Europe’s metropolises

It is a long -cherished wish of many people in Paris: for the first time in over 100 years you can swim from this Saturday. For this purpose, three outdoor pools are set up in the river for the summer, one of them in the immediate vicinity of the Eiffel Tower. After athletes had already jumped into the river in the event of borderline water quality last year during the Olympic Games, the water fun is now possible for everyone.

How else in Europe about swimming in urban waters?

Swimming in the Thames is banned in large parts of the city – and not advisable either. The river through which the world -famous Tower Bridge leads is strongly influenced by the tides, driven by a number of ships and is also heavily dirty. Especially with heavy rainfalls, unexplained wastewater is directed into the river. Swimming is only allowed in a section far to the west of the capital, upstream of the Putney Bridge. The responsible Port of London Authority also advises against going into the water. Recently, however, you can cool off in a closed channel section in the Canary Wharf banking district.

As soon as it gets hot, residents like to jump into the water. And there is enough of it: canals, lakes, channels. Swimming in the cans in the tourist center is not recommended – and this is not due to the water quality. But there are simply too many boats.

The IJ – the waters behind the main train station between the North Sea and the Ijsselmeer is popular. There leaving cargo barges and cruise ships enough space for swimmers. And some pull their lanes all year round. The “wild bathing spots” in the city are only tolerated, but water quality is regularly checked. Now there has been the first official bathing area in the middle of the city since this summer – in the historic inner port at the shipping museum.

Until a few decades ago, bathing in the middle of Italy’s capital: in the Tiber, which flows a few kilometers further into the Mediterranean, many generations of Romans have learned swimming. Today this is hard to imagine, the river is so dirty and neglected. Swimming in it is even prohibited. There has been a sandy beach again for some time, but nobody is going into the water there. The various citizens’ initiatives who wanted to bring the river back to life have so far been unsuccessful. Until the 1960s there was even a bathing establishment directly at the Engelsburg, below the Vatican.

There has been a bathing ban in the Spree for around 100 years. With a swimming demonstration, hundreds of people protested and demanded that swimming in the river possible again a few weeks ago. But the Berlin Senate Department has concerns about security and hygiene.

Swimming in the urban lakes and rivers has been common in Switzerland for eternal times. In the largest cities of Zurich and Geneva you can swim in Lake Zurich or Lake Zurich and the Lake Geneva or the Rhone, as well as in the Rhine in Basel and in the Aare in Bern. The waters are clean, you can usually look to the bottom. On the rivers it is popular to let the current drive with rubber tires. Exit points are marked. The current can be strong in some places, so pleasure is only intended for experienced swimmers.

Many Hungarians are passionate swimmers, water poloers, rowers and sailors. In the Danube, of all things, you can only practice all of this, because the electricity is an international artery for freight and tourist ships, which you shouldn’t get in the way. There are also dangerous rapids and whirlpools for swimmers that you only recognize when you are right in the middle of it. Swimming is therefore only allowed in certain areas, of which there are more than 20 in the Hungarian part of the Danube.

Again and again there are organized swimming events, for example in the northern Budapest suburb of Szentendre, on a quieter Danube arm. The Hungarian open -air swimming championship for amateurs and professionals will take place for the fifth time on July 12th. The water quality is usually considered acceptable, but it fluctuates depending on the Danube section and depending on the water level.

The jumps from the legendary bridge to the ice-cold mountain river Neretva, which shares the small town of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina, have long been a tourist attraction. This sport with a long tradition is only something for trained, because it is risky: from the almost 30 -meter -high vertex of the bridge bent upwards, it is important to reach the water surface in the best possible body position – special skills create head jumps. As a rule, the jump events take place in organized form, often as a competition.

The Stari Most (Alte Brücke) from Mostar is a masterpiece of the Ottoman architecture from the 16th century, which is widespread in Bosnia. It was destroyed in 1993 in the Bosnia War and rebuilt in 2004. It connects the Muslim with the Christian part of the city and belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Whether in Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona or other cities: in most rivers flowing through the big cities, swimming is prohibited due to the great contamination of the water. In addition, there are shipping traffic or dangerous currents in some places. But in Burgos you can swim in the urban area in the Arlazón River. The city is located in the autonomous community of Katilien-León and has around 176,000 inhabitants.

In Lisbon, the leap into the Tajo river because of the poor water quality is prohibited, as is in Porto at the Douro River. The sea is very close in both cities. River bathrooms are only available in smaller places in mostly somewhat remote areas.