Public Baths and Showing Off Our Bubis
I always wanted to visit Budapest. I had envisioned an exotic and grand city, but strangely, this "vision" had no formed image. I had no idea what its buildings looked like, whether there were mountains or snow, I didn't even know that the Danube River ran through it (wasn't that in Austria?). The extent of my knowledge was this: vizslas, salami, and langos.
We stayed in one of the hundreds of apartment blocks on the Pest side of the city. An enduring memory of mine involves the gridded streets of residential buildings, great concrete things several stories high, seemingly identical but somehow each unique. The clatter of trams and trilling of the overhead wires echoed off the walls, providing regular reminders of our location whenever our minds meandered. We always liked a city with affordable light rail, but discovered a more fun alternative: MolBubi, Budapest's city bikes.
On Bubi bikes, we crossed Budapest's famous bridges and pedalled along the Danube River. The city's well-connected bike lanes took us to the tourist-packed Buda Hill, the stunning Parliament Building, and one of the best parks we have visited: Margaret Island. Bicycle and rickshaw hire, a water park, zoo, restaurants, gardens, ruins, outdoor gyms, a spa... all somehow fit on this car-free park (electric carts and a bus line service the island), yet there was room for everyone to have a quiet spot on the grass for a picnic.
There was another park closer to our accommodation with some old castles on a lake island as well as the usual pretty gardens, but more to our interest lay the Szechenyi Baths. The gorgeous Austro-Hungarian building housed dozens of small thermal spring-fed baths, varying in temperatures between 20 and 40 degrees Celsius, as well as saunas, steam baths, and spa treatments. Outside, were three much larger pools, complete with fountains and water jets. We spent nearly four hours soaking in as many pools as we dared, and finally left when we were quite hungry. There was a langos stall nearby, and we sat on the grass, contently eating the cheesy fried bread, while our hair (and Rob's beard) reeked of the sulphurous spring water that would not fade for days.
One can enjoy a delectable, fully loaded, fried bread in Budapest (or Eat Street Markets, Brisbane)
We stayed in one of the hundreds of apartment blocks on the Pest side of the city. An enduring memory of mine involves the gridded streets of residential buildings, great concrete things several stories high, seemingly identical but somehow each unique. The clatter of trams and trilling of the overhead wires echoed off the walls, providing regular reminders of our location whenever our minds meandered. We always liked a city with affordable light rail, but discovered a more fun alternative: MolBubi, Budapest's city bikes.
On Bubi bikes, we crossed Budapest's famous bridges and pedalled along the Danube River. The city's well-connected bike lanes took us to the tourist-packed Buda Hill, the stunning Parliament Building, and one of the best parks we have visited: Margaret Island. Bicycle and rickshaw hire, a water park, zoo, restaurants, gardens, ruins, outdoor gyms, a spa... all somehow fit on this car-free park (electric carts and a bus line service the island), yet there was room for everyone to have a quiet spot on the grass for a picnic.
A nice pair of Bubis will get you anywhere. Even in front of Parliament.
There was another park closer to our accommodation with some old castles on a lake island as well as the usual pretty gardens, but more to our interest lay the Szechenyi Baths. The gorgeous Austro-Hungarian building housed dozens of small thermal spring-fed baths, varying in temperatures between 20 and 40 degrees Celsius, as well as saunas, steam baths, and spa treatments. Outside, were three much larger pools, complete with fountains and water jets. We spent nearly four hours soaking in as many pools as we dared, and finally left when we were quite hungry. There was a langos stall nearby, and we sat on the grass, contently eating the cheesy fried bread, while our hair (and Rob's beard) reeked of the sulphurous spring water that would not fade for days.
We loved the baths so much we visited again when we returned from our Romania trip.
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