Varberg is on the west coast of Sweden, a couple of hours north of Gothenburg. It used to be a spa town, and still is, I guess. A lot of people come here on holiday and it's one of those places that feels a bit pretend, unreal and removed from the everyday.

Near to the harbour, behind the fortress, is a small beach. On stilts, a short way out into the water, sits one of the most spectacular pool buildings I've ever seen.



The bath house is old. It looks like a miniature Taj Mahal, or at least that's the only way in which I can describe it, thanks to my under-evolved appreciation of Indian architecture. It's not really Indian, it's a 19th century Swedish take on Orientalism, on exoticism. Typically for this part of the world, what would be rendered in marble and stone in the East, here is presented in modest and robust painted wood.

There's a café inside the main entrance, but you'll have to be brave to get any further than that. If you say: "Can I have a quick look inside please?" the Swedish café manager will say no, very assertively, and add: "You cannot go there because there are naked people and they do not want you to be there."

I'm not usually daunted by the mysteries of bath house behaviour, but this is intimidating. It occurs to me that I could ask Simon to wait for me awhile, pay some money, go through and get naked so that I could see for myself what goes on behind the door. But there's something about the manner that makes me realise that even if I were naked, I'd never be a dedicated Varberg bather, I'd never belong, and the resentful eyes of the bath's true clientele would stare down at me.

I become obsessed with the baths. What's inside? There's a men's side and a women's side, all completely hidden from view. The only clue I get is a badly photocopied leaflet. It looks as though there is a platform through the door, and some glass-paned sun-rooms. The wooden platform has a staircase that leads down into the water. There is a tarpaulin curtain around the whole of the lower area so that the naked bathers cannot be seen by clothed people on the beach.



The people of Varberg are so very lucky to have this beautiful bath house. Though the sea is chilly at the best of times, and may freeze in the winter, the water is clear and full of fish, the sandy sea bed looks so welcoming and, really, who wouldn't want to laze around under the Scandinavian sun, like lizards on a rock, behind the overly ornamented wooden walls of this place.

http://www.seasidetourism.org/badvagen/indexeng.html