Ode to my toes II

As the title suggests, this is a continuation of the previous post. We are catching up with Lucy and Katherine after they have re-arrived in Budapest. They have already found their apartment, eaten and said hello to the Chain Bridge.

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Chain Bridge

Budapest is apparently known as the 'city of the baths'. I had no idea about this reputation until I was searching for the top things to do in Budapest. Anyway, apparently no visit is complete without a visit to the Turkish baths. There are various sets dotted around the city, but we settled on the Rudas Baths. Some days are men only, some women only but the weekends are mixed. The major advantage of mixed (in my book anyway) is that clothing is compulsory. Must be the Brit in me. So Katherine and I headed over the Danube to the Rudas for a wild Saturday night. Slightly apprehensive, we walked into the first bathing area. It was a swimming pool. A little bit nicer than Leatherhead Leisure Centre but nothing special. We walked a lap of the pool, then upstairs for a lap of the pool terrace, trying every door we passed (and ended up in a couple of offices in the process). Nothing. What was so great about this? During our casual swim we noticed various people coming and going (mostly going) through the set of double doors leading to the cafe. Crazy people, going to the cafe in swimsuits. Is that really appropriate?! A good while later curiosity overcame our reluctance to walk through the cafe wearing not enough for our liking. We found the proper baths on the other side of the cafe.

It was like stepping back in time. The air was thick with steam, the buzz of indiscernible conversation spiralling high into the domed ceiling. Beneath the dome, a central octagonal pool filled with people, features blurred by steam and dim lighting. Footprints on terracotta tiles betray the movement of bathers from one pool another, from the toe-burningly warm to the numbingly cold. Incense spills out of the sauna, flooding the room. The intoxicating atmosphere only disturbed by the cries of bathers as they tip buckets of icy water over themselves.

That is the best way I can describe it, but it does not do it justice. I actually felt like a Roman. We left the baths at 1:30 am and were warm all the way home... it must be magic.

Buda Castle // Chain Bridge // Matthias Church // Parliament

The day of the MetroCard24. One ticket, 24 hours and a lot of sights to see:
1. Széchenyi Baths. A massive set of baths. Very impressive but looked more commercialised than the Rudas Baths.
2. Heroes' Square. To honour great Hungarian leaders.
3. Parliament Square. Unfortunately the entire square was a building site. You could walk into part of the square and see the bullet holes in the buildings, left as a reminder of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
4. Chain Bridge. A bridge connecting Buda to Pest.
5. Buda Castle. A castle unlike any I have ever seen. The castle is free to enter but can only be reached by a steep climb up icy paths. But it was well worth it for the view.

In the evening Katherine and I decided to cook. This did not go well, mostly because the instructions were provided in a lovely selection of languages: Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak. Great. The attempt was not entirely successful so we ate potatoes. Just potatoes.

Predictably the final morning was the sunny morning. We managed to squidge in a quick trip to the Danube before beginning the journey home. The airport was ... interesting... Something about buying chips just as the gate was closing, then hiding them through passport control and boarding... the usual.