When I was a kid, growing up in Ponta Delgada, Azores, one of the main source of entertainment was the sea.
When you grow up on an island with just over 120k people (140k now I believe), measuring around 30 miles across, by less that 10 miles wide, the sea is all around you, plus with a moderate temperature year round, you can basically swim 365 days a year.
The reason for this trip t the past was that I found a picture of the old “Sao Pedro” pool, this is where I learned how to swim, and probably spent all my free time from the age of 6 to 12.
On the bottom right you can see somebody carrying one of the numbered hangers they would give you to put your clothes and shoes, you would then be handed a bracelet with the matching number to pick it up later.
The pool was demolished about 20 years ago to make wave for the expansion of the main avenue, on it’s place a newer, bigger, more modern pool was built, but for those people of my age and older, it will always lack the nostalgia of this old small pool 🙂
