A Rough Day at the Baths...

Budapest, Hungary

September 15, 2007
N47°31.120
E019°04.900

After a cup of coffee, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, we walked towards the large city park that promised a lot of sites, including one of the famous Budapest thermal public baths. As we approached the entrance to the park we could see that it was barricaded and a large stage was sitting in the middle of the square. Shouting, chanting and flag waving filled the air. It appeared there was some type of protest going on and we decided to keep our distance and make our way directly into the park. The park was buzzing with activity on a sunny fall-like afternoon, with locals and tourists alike enjoying the weather.

Navigating our way through the park on the sidewalks packed with pedestrians and bicyclists, we passed the theme park castle on our right, before we found the stunning Szechenyi Bathhouse on our left. A newly married couple posed on the lawn of the grand building as their photographer snapped away; capturing the happy couple, flowers, bright sunlight, and famous building in the background.

The entrance to the baths was a little lackluster, to say the least, it looked like the entrance to a high school gymnasium instead of a majestic building. The view didn’t really change as we pushed through the turnstile and entered the locker room. The attendant assigned us a dressing cubicle to change into our swimsuits and store our belongings.

After changing we walked through the double doors into a grand hall adorned with high ceilings and ornate detail. There were two medium sized pools in front of us. People were relaxing along the perimeter of the pools where steps acted as seats in the 38C (100.4F) water. Directly behind the first pool was a larger pool, equally packed, but the water was a little cooler at 34C (93.2F). There were people coming in out of doors to our right and left that obviously led to more baths. We walked around for several minutes, just getting our bearings, before dipping into the 38C pool.

As we sat in the warm bath we noticed several people going in and out of a steam room. The sign above the door said the temperature was between 45-55C (113 to 131F); with the sweat dripping off these people it looked at least that hot. We had to check it out. The steam hit us as soon as we walked through the door, we could barely see, it had a smell of lemon-essence and was so hot it was hard to breath. Marc took two steps into the fog, turned around and walked right back out. I stood in the center of the packed, claustrophobic room for what I thought was 10 minutes, but it was probably closer to two before I ducked out to find Marc.

Opening doors and wandering through corridors I found more baths and saunas, until I finally found Marc sitting in a dry sauna that was 140F—at least it was a dry heat Marc said. It felt like we were back in Hanoi as we sat in the room for approximately ten minutes. Our skin felt soft and refreshed as we headed out to find another bath to relax in for awhile.

As we contemplated our next move we noticed a door that led outside and thought we would take a look. As we walked through the unassuming door we were greeted by three large pools, one of them a lap pool, all completely surrounded by the beautiful historic façade of the Szechenyi Bathhouse. The yellow building had a white balcony on the second floor that looked down upon three large, crystal-blue pools, in a courtyard the size of two football fields. A large swimming/lap pool at 26C, a fun pool at 32C and a toasty and relaxing pool at 38C.

The pools were full of families, young and old, frolicking in the water. A couple of men played chess on a waterproof board as they enjoyed the warm water and sunny day. You might picture beautiful, lean, tanned people lounging in the warm baths, and I hate to shatter that image, since that is what I would prefer. However, people of all shapes and sizes pranced around between the pools, ducking into a sauna for a good sweat, and then back into one of the pools. The sites weren’t always pleasant, but the warm pools made it possible to ignore everything around us and simply enjoy our bath.

We jumped from pool to pool and sauna to pool for a little over two hours before we were completely famished. We retraced our steps, found our little cubicle, changed and headed back into the park. The sun was shining brightly and we were very relaxed after our nice long bath.

Other Notes: We’re amazed at the amount of public drinking of alcohol in Hungary. It’s common to see some drinking in public in other European countries, but in Hungary it appears it is acceptable everywhere! This includes on the metro, in the stations, in parks, on benches, walking down the street… literally everywhere. As we walked through a park tonight, groups of kids, many of whom were teenagers, had a bottle of cheap wine, whiskey or beer and were passing it around the group. Additionally, many of the side-streets and parks are littered with graffiti, broken bottles, puke, and the smell of urine; most likely attributed to the consequences of drinking in public.