What's a "Lido"?

We've entered the last few weeks of summer. 

The light is changing and the days are getting shorter.

The water in the pool at the Riviera Club is 

getting cooler; we swim in and out of shaded 

and sunlit patches, the temperatures 

markedly different in each one.

I like the cooler water, prefer it even, to the

warmer temperatures that are really tiring to swim

in for a length of time. Yeh, I bitch and moan,

but it's really pleasant overall.

The Riviera Club is old, opening in 1933, 

and has that gangly spread out feeling of having

been enlarged and expanded into spaces

wherever they can be found. It has a homey, 

comfortable atmosphere. The pool is the size

of two (American) football fields with areas 

for lap swimming, water exercises/calisthenics, as

well as slides for children in a large baby pool.  

I've often seen pools called "lidos" on an English

website called Outdoor Swimming Society.

The term, I think, came from the Italian word for beach

and refers to outdoor public swimming areas

and their surrounding facilities. 

I've often wondered whether the Rivi 

may be regarded as a lido. Even though use of

the facilities usually requires membership, 

non-members may participate for an additional fee.

No matter, this is *my* little bit of Venice.

My own lido.