sam and the city

Budapest Part II - the baths

Good day faithful readers. Budapest proclaims itself to be "the Paris of the east", with its many fine restaurants, streets modeled after the Champs Elysees and even a petit Moulin Rouge! Well, I'm not sure whether it is quite ready to go up against a city like Paris, but it does have several things going for it, not the least of which is its thermal baths.

Hungary apparently has around 1,300 natural thermal springs dotted about the place, 118 of which are located in and around Budapest, primarily on the Buda (*) side of the Danube. The baths that utilise these natural springs were originally set up by the Turkish when they occupied the city, who used them for their 5 baths per day prior to prayers. Today it seems to have become ingrained into Hungarian culture. Groups of old guys sit around all day in the warm waters playing chess... well I assume that they're old, maybe they've just been there so long they're shriveled up!

Unfortunately all of the original Turkish baths have been destroyed thanks to the numerous battles fought by those wishing to claim Budapest for themselves. This has however allowed new buildings to be put in place to make use of those same springs.

While in the city I went to the Gellert (the one in the pictures) and the Szechenyi baths, both of which were fantastic. Apparently the Rudas baths, the oldest in the city, are really good too and the best example of the genuine Turkish style bath. I would have liked to go in the steam rooms and try a mud bath too, but I didn't know what I was doing when buying my tickets and bought the wrong one... oh well, two good excuses to go back right there!

The Hungarians have a totally different approach to Australians when it comes to building pools it would seem. Whereas in Australia pools are all very sterile, not particularly attractive places that seem to only attract people who wish to train in them and parents who won't allow their young children in the sea, Hungary is quite the opposite. Hungarian baths are all about relaxation (as well as the baths there are steam rooms, mud baths, saunas, massage facilities), and much to my delight, there were virtually no young children at all.

You may think to yourself "oh, I can sit in a spa anywhere, what's the difference?" Well you see, in my opinion warm water is only part of the deal. If you want the whole experience of relaxing and spoiling yourself you need the surroundings too. Entering any of the baths you nearly feel like you're entering the Palace of Versailles. There are chandeliers, there are marble statues, there are mosaics, not the kind of thing you find in a normal pool.

As you sit there in the 40C water, half comatose as your muscles just melt, you slowly open your eyes and look at the building surrounding you and think to yourself... "those old guys have got the right idea, this is the life"

(*) On a side note, for those of you who don't know, Budapest has only been a single entity since 1873. Prior to this it was three separate cities, Buda, Obuda and Pest.

posted by sam @ 11:14 am