Buda(Pest)

Budapest... a city divided into two by the Danube. Comprising of Buda on one side and Pest on the other, the two halves of the city are different in their feel and lifestyle. Pest, where we stayed, has more nightlife, shopping and restaurants, while Buda has the old castle area and the citadel, both high up above the city with fantastic views. Our feet are very sore.

After failing in our attempts to find a laundry on Saturday, we walked around the major shopping areas a little bit, and hunted for appropriate places for dinner. Everything seemed very quiet and muted, a bit like the place had been deserted – not that there wasn’t heaps of people around, just that it felt like it should be much more lively than it was.

Our plan for Sunday was to do more sightseeing in Pest – all the big city buildings, the marketplace, things like that, then head over to the Szechenyi baths. Budapest is known for its thermal springs and baths, some of them even hold dance clubs in them. It was today that we realised Ferry Corsten had played on Saturday night, for free, and we’d missed out. But we resolved that crisis by buying tickets to see him in London a few days after we get back.

If you have seen photos of old men, playing chess in heated pools, surrounded by snow, that’s probably Szechenyi baths, where we found ourselves on Sunday afternoon. The whole experience was quite novel, as well as relaxing, which we both desperately needed. We started off in a pool with water temperature of around 30 degrees. It was like being in a giant fountain. In the middle was a whirlpool, and on both sides were bubbly thermal jets. When one was on, the other was off. I’d never been in a whirlpool before, and it was really quite quickl and powerful, not to mention fun.

After skipping the middle pool, at around 26-28 degrees, we found ourselves in the 38 degree pool. Like a bath, only with about 100 other people, and huge. It also had a massagey-jet thing, and if you stood under it just right, it would massage your neck and shoulders – great for if you’ve been carrying a heavy backpack around.

Beyond the thermal pools, there was a sauna indoors, which I spent all of about 5 minutes in. On jumping out of the sauna, I found another pool. Was only about the size of an average backyard spa, with a temperature of 16 degrees. That’s pretty cold, when you just got out of a 90 degree sauna. All in all, a great afternoon, followed up with dinner at a traditional Hungarian restaurant across the road from our hotel. Excellent value, huge, hearty meals. Would definitely consider it for future.

The most surprising thing about the baths, was the cafe inside, selling food and beer and such forth, actually sold it at sensible, reasonable prices, pretty much on average with the same prices we’d noted in nearby cafes and stuff.