The Russian Swimming Pool

I recently made an excursion to a unique Kabul sight with some friends - an Olympic-size swimming pool built by the Russians during the Soviet occupation, which is located on top of a hill overlooking Kabul. There's no water in it (although our driver thought we were going to go swimming), so you can enter the pool and walk around inside, much to the bemusement of the Afghan National Police watching. Rumour has it that the Taliban used to hang people off the colossal diving boards, although I'm not sure if this is just a Kabul tale or not.

 

The view from the top was spectacular, with endless brown roofs and mountains in the distance, smothered in clouds. Some NATO helicopters swooped overhead and reminded us of where we were. NATO helicopters are an everyday occurrence (disturbance) here, but there was something quite special about seeing them from the top of this hill. Definitely a memorable excursion.