Budapest Rest Day 1

 After breakfast in our hotel, we went to the train station to buy train tickets for our return to Prague. We knew a separate ticket was needed for bikes, but the web site said no tickets were available either tomorrow or the next day, a little concerning as we need to get back. At the station it was no problem getting two tickets to Prague with bikes, so we had two full days to explore Budapest.

We purchased a 24 hour all-transport ticket and took the metro down towards the river where we took a walking tour of the Pest side of Budapest. The architecture is amazing and extensive. Much is rebuilt after WWII, and some still has bullet holes or cannon balls in the facades. Mid tour we stopped for apple strudel which our guide claimed originates in Budapest. It was surprising to find statues of both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush among the historical and artistic sculptures downtown. Most of the history is much older than those.

The day was hot. We returned to the hotel and did laundry at a nearby laundromat, and we finished booking our Prague hotel and airport transfer for the end of our trip as we waited. 

After a late pizza lunch, we rented towels and took the metro to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths, a spa housed in an ornate, hundred year old, neo-baroque building. After changing and stowing our street clothes in our respective, maze-like locker rooms, we met at the outdoor courtyard. In addition to the lap pool and hot pool, there was a tepid pool in the coutrtyard about 4’ deep with a donut shaped divider in the center that you could enter on one side. A strong current swirled in the donut shape and people packed in and walked/floated in circles. We never found out if the moving people created the current or vice versa, but we let ourselves be swept around in a circle with other laughing guests for a while. After some time in the outdoor area, where a few hundred people relaxed, sunned, and swam, we explored the indoor rooms housing pools of varied temperatures, aroma saunas (peppermint or cedar), and a salt sauna (not hot but very salty). There were even beer baths though we didn’t explore them. We finished with another swim, enjoying a change of pace from cycling and sightseeing.