Hungary Day 2...

Our second day in Hungary was much more relaxed than the first. We had only a few plans for the day and needed some recovery after a few days of rain and traveling amongst the European cities. As a highlight of our research of Budapest we became interested in the traditional Hungarian hot springs and baths. With the recommendations of Olga and other tourists we made our way to the main bath near the city park in Budapest. Budapest has approx. 7 - 8 thermal baths each with unique qualities and characteristics. We were told tourists generally choose either the baths at the Hotel Gellert or the Szechenyi Bath. The baths at the Hotel Gellert are slightly costlier than the others but provides a very luxirious experience but does not have nearly the selection and range of pools as the bath in the city park. As such, we chose the Szechenyi Bath for our visit.

The water portion of the bath reminds me of Glenwood Springs in Colorado. The water is naturally heated from the nearby hot springs. There was a series of both indoor and outdoor baths. The outdoor baths were treated with chlorine and did not retain the sulfur smell of most hot-springs. Additionally, the outdoor baths featured various fountains, whirlpools (imagine a lazy river that goes twice as fast in a much smaller circle), and bubbles. The inside baths are much more of the formal variety and what you would compare to a normal recreation center pool style. There were four to six baths inside with varying temperatures and size (from a hot tub to small pool size). Over a three hour period at the baths we spent half of our time inside and half of our time outside. The experience was very relaxing and makes me want to return to the hot springs in Colorado sometime in the near future.

After the bath we made our way towards the Danube river to book an evening dinner cruise on along the river. After changing from our bath attire to dinner attire (read another pair of jeans that I had probably worn five times prior) we made our way back to the river to board our ship. Running a bit behind schedule, we cut down to the river road from the main street a little earlier than we had earlier in the evening. We were surprisingly greeted with the flooding waters of the Danube. Matt, being the adventurous Boy Scout type, hiked his jeans and treaded the water. Monica and I had no other choice but to follow his lead. As we approached the ship our feet were 4 - 5 inches deep in the river and we became the subject of many photographs of tourists observing the river overflow from dry ground on the street above. So much for saving time by cutting to the river early - our feet were soaked but we had a great laugh.

Below is a picture of the Danube.


The dinner cruise was a great experience and we were able to see many of the sights of Budapest. The food was tasty as well. The company was... a little surprised to see a few college age students on their dinner cruise ship it appeared. The party next to us from Spain decided to take the entire dessert tray back to their table and managed to finish all the Hungarian delicacies before we were able to get any and then proceeded to stare at Matt, Monica, and I for the rest of the cruise. Not really sure if we offended them or what but the company made for an interesting experience.

Below is a picture of our boat.


The evening ended early as we repacked our bags and headed to bed anxious for our flight to Split, Croatia in the morning.