Final Morning in Budapest

Today we were moving on, leaving Budapest, a city we have come to love.  There is so much more to do and see here.  We've barely scratched the surface.

With a few hours in the morning, I decided to make the most of it and see a few more of the famous sights.  My primary mission was to visit the Szechenyi thermal baths in City Park.  There are many thermal spas in Budapest, heated naturally from heated water beneath the ground.  I enjoy a good soak now and then, and have been known to visit natural hot springs whenever there are some available nearby.  Well these are some of the most famous and oldest in the world and Rick Steves rated a visit to these thermal baths as the #1 activity for Budapest.

 I hit the metro by 8am or so and took a couple trains to get to the park where the baths were located. Again, just love using this efficient transportation system.  I walked about 5 minutes to get to the baths.  Here is the exterior of the building:

Szechenyi Baths

Following Rick Steves' exact instructions, I managed to figure out how to pay for the entrance to the baths and I even got my own private changing room.  It really wasn't all that hard.  They used a high-tech electronic wristband so that you could gain access to the locker rooms and the facility in general.  I was impressed by the cleanliness of the facility especially considering the huge numbers of people that use the facility every day.

Private Changing Rooms

By 8:30am, I was soaking in these amazing pools:

In the center of this pool, there was a strong circular current that flowed counterclockwise.  It was a fun way to float around the pool like you were going down a river.  The water was not very hot in the outdoor pools - maybe 90 degrees or so.  I think there are some very hot, medicinal pools inside but I did not see them.

Apparently these baths have been used for medicinal purposes for centuries.  Today, locals actually get prescriptions to the baths for various ailments.

Check out this spectacular architecture!!  I mean...what a culture!

After my expensive-but-worth-every-penny soak at these baths, I packed up and walked around the nearby park and Heroes Square.  Apparently in 1896, there was a MASSIVE MASSIVE party in Budapest celebrating the Magyars' (Hungarians') 1,000 years in this part of the world.  Much of what we still see today in this park was built for this celebration.  There's a circus, a zoo, and a really nice big park, ponds, and monstrous statues celebrating famous people in Hungarian history.  What a party it must have been.  Unfortunately, it was about the last hurrah before nearly a century of pain.

 Transylvanian Castle

(used to be a part of Hungarian Empire I guess)

This is an "hourglass" that is turned once per year; guess it's actually a yearglass.  The massive disc would get rotated once per year but apparently the insides gummed up with humidity and it doesn't work any more.  Oops.

Heroes Square, City Park:

 A Museum at Heroes Square

(next time...)

 After a quick tour of Heroes Square and reading up on a thousand years of Hungarian history in Rick Steves book (on my iPad; great way to go by the way), I walked down the main street to find some good breakfast.  I stumbled on a perfect place outside and had an ideal omelet with great, fresh baked bread, orange juice and TWO cups of the best cappuccino I've had on this trip!!  As I sat there eating my perfect breakfast alone, I thought to myself that I will have to get back here some day.  Hopefully next time Laurie will be here to see how amazing this city is.  Next time I need at least a week!!

The perfect cup of cappuccino!!