In the heat of conversation on Friday night we (oh, alright then, I) had rashly agreed to go to the thermal baths at 6am with Susan, who was leaving Budapest mid-morning so needed to have an early start. Sarah wasn't hugely impressed by this, but nonetheless Saturday morning saw us up bright and early (well, early at least) to go to the Szenchenyi Baths in the north of the city, a short metro ride away. We bought tickets for about 8 pounds and were told if we left before 3 hours were up, we would get a partial refund. Scoffing at the idea of spending more than 2 hours in a swimming pool, let alone 3, we went in to change. Three and a half hours later we emerged very happy and relaxed, and smelling strongly of rotten eggs.
The baths are housed in fabulous 19th century baroque building, constructed for the purpose, and consist of a series of pools of thermal sulphurous baths at different temperatures, a number of dry and steam saunas, loads of showers and, best of all, three heated outdoor pools. These cannot be compared to outdoor pools in England - they are actually warm for a start: it is like swimming and sitting in a very large bath that is full of fountains, whirlpools and bubbles and statuary: paddling around hundred year old classical statues is so much fun! It was a glorious day - a clear blue sky and sunshine but very cold at that early hour. It is bizarre to be able to see your breath while you sit in steaming waters with the sun warming your back. The great thing about going so early was that no other tourists were up and the baths were full of lots of local elderly people chatting, relaxing and generally having a good time. Lots of people sit around in the outdoor baths smoking, reading and even playing chess on the floating chessboards. If you have to get up at 6am, this is the way to do it.
After the baths we said goodbye to Susan, had an ice cream (first of the year - yay!) and strolled through the park in which the
baths are, ending up at the impressive Heroes Square, which stands at the head of the main street in Pest, Andrassay Utcar. The square was full of demonstrators waving the Hungarian flag and lots of police. When we returned to the hostel later, we found out that it was a protest against the resignation of the Hungarian PM - it was a hot topic of conversation among staff at the hostel who had much to say, mostly critical, of him and his actions especially relating to the EU. From Heroes Square, we went to the Fine Arts Gallery as we'd spotted there was a special exhibition there on Mucha, the Czech pioneer of Art Nouveau who, amongst other things, designed theatre posters for Sarah Bernhardt. It was an absolutely beautiful exhibition and we crippled our bank account at the gift shop buying gorgeous postcards and momentoes.
Then it was back to the hostel via the Opera House to buy tickets for a Bartok concert later in the week by the Hungarian National Philharmonic for the princely sum of 1 pound 50. The cheapness of the theatre here is wonderful: we are seriously considering relocation...... The rest of the day was spent in boring but necessary domesticity: washing clothes, food shopping and trying to get rid of the smell of sulphur from our hair. The evening ended with eating slightly odd Hungarian crisps with two other hostellers: a lovely quirky illustrator from the Netherlands called Petra, and Brendan from Kentucky. We had lots of interesting chat on the subject of jobs, the future, life, the universe and everything.
The baths are housed in fabulous 19th century baroque building, constructed for the purpose, and consist of a series of pools of thermal sulphurous baths at different temperatures, a number of dry and steam saunas, loads of showers and, best of all, three heated outdoor pools. These cannot be compared to outdoor pools in England - they are actually warm for a start: it is like swimming and sitting in a very large bath that is full of fountains, whirlpools and bubbles and statuary: paddling around hundred year old classical statues is so much fun! It was a glorious day - a clear blue sky and sunshine but very cold at that early hour. It is bizarre to be able to see your breath while you sit in steaming waters with the sun warming your back. The great thing about going so early was that no other tourists were up and the baths were full of lots of local elderly people chatting, relaxing and generally having a good time. Lots of people sit around in the outdoor baths smoking, reading and even playing chess on the floating chessboards. If you have to get up at 6am, this is the way to do it.After the baths we said goodbye to Susan, had an ice cream (first of the year - yay!) and strolled through the park in which the
baths are, ending up at the impressive Heroes Square, which stands at the head of the main street in Pest, Andrassay Utcar. The square was full of demonstrators waving the Hungarian flag and lots of police. When we returned to the hostel later, we found out that it was a protest against the resignation of the Hungarian PM - it was a hot topic of conversation among staff at the hostel who had much to say, mostly critical, of him and his actions especially relating to the EU. From Heroes Square, we went to the Fine Arts Gallery as we'd spotted there was a special exhibition there on Mucha, the Czech pioneer of Art Nouveau who, amongst other things, designed theatre posters for Sarah Bernhardt. It was an absolutely beautiful exhibition and we crippled our bank account at the gift shop buying gorgeous postcards and momentoes.Then it was back to the hostel via the Opera House to buy tickets for a Bartok concert later in the week by the Hungarian National Philharmonic for the princely sum of 1 pound 50. The cheapness of the theatre here is wonderful: we are seriously considering relocation...... The rest of the day was spent in boring but necessary domesticity: washing clothes, food shopping and trying to get rid of the smell of sulphur from our hair. The evening ended with eating slightly odd Hungarian crisps with two other hostellers: a lovely quirky illustrator from the Netherlands called Petra, and Brendan from Kentucky. We had lots of interesting chat on the subject of jobs, the future, life, the universe and everything.
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