A New Bathing Experience
Budapest,
Hungary is famous for its thermal waters, its Art Nouveau and 16th
century Turkish baths. Hungarians are
great believers in the medicinal powers of thermal bathing. The baths have a
long and proud history going back to Roman times, but it was under Turkish occupation
that the bath culture flourished.
In
Budapest eighty thermal springs feed twelve spa baths with a daily output of 70
million liters of thermal water.
One
can visit any of the 10-12 bathhouses still in operation. Four of us decided to
spend the afternoon at the Szechenyi
Baths in the park. We were strongly encouraged to take an English speaking
person with us. Our guide found a sweet young lady from a travel agency to
accompany us.
During
our visit, a few years ago, we found the employees at the baths not very friendly,
and the list of prices for various parts of the bath was endless. English
translations were non-existent and no one spoke any English. We were happy we
had a local gal who could translate and
show us the routine. The process of actually getting to the pools is not
difficult, but rather complicated, and we all agreed that without her we would
have been in for a trying and stressful afternoon.
We
went in all the pools. The water was clear and odorless, except for the hottest
pool that had a yellow tinge and a whiff of sulfur. Inside, having lost our
guide and being unable to read any of the signs, we all just hoped we wouldn’t
wander into a male only area. But all went well.
Walking
to one of the pools I remarked, “It looks like a lot of people come here for
the day, just like we go to the beach.”
She
agreed. The place was huge and could accommodate a lot of people. We didn’t
have any trouble getting a locker.
When
we were leaving I couldn’t remember which pocket of my cargo pants I’d put the
little plastic tag. After checking all the many pockets, I found it, but I
wonder what would have happened if I had lost it. Would they have kept me there
forever? The stern fellow at the turnstile was not the slightest bit helpful. I
think a smile would have cracked his face!
One gal misplaced her admission ticket, so
she had to leave without her refund, which we never would have been aware of,
if we hadn’t had a translator along to show us the ropes. The partial refund
was because we had not stayed the entire time the ticket covered. It was a fun
experience and we had a good time. After leaving we strolled through the park
before catching the subway back to the hotel.
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