Day 28: Rest in Budapest
Wednesday July 24 - Day 28 - Rest Day - Total 1063miles
Yay! A rest day! When we woke up it was already getting pretty steamy in Budapest. We have had to keep the storm shades down on our big window overlooking the pedestrian district because the sun heats up the place instantly. We made coffee in our tiny kitchenette and headed out for a day on the town. We picked up some pastries at the little CBA supermarket on the corner for breakfast. These pastries were some sort of Hungarian sturdy/flaky cinnamon roll the size of Bruce's head. They were good!
We took the subway out to Szechenyi baths. These are the public baths with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, saunas, heated and medicated pool, etc... This bath house was recommended specifically because it had outdoor pools (good on a hot day) and because they are the most famous of all the Budapest baths. They are located by the city's park in a beautiful old yellow building (if you can call it that... it is huge!) built a very long time ago just for the purpose of swimming and relaxing. We bought a normal day ticket, even though a very nice/very blond lady tried to sell us a package that was quadruple the price. We then had to go downstairs to rent towels...
Now, how much does a towel cost? Well, our towel rentals were more-or-less reasonable at about $3.50 (700 forints) each for the day... but... the deposit for the towel was 10,000 forints, about $50, to make sure we return them by the end of the day. WOW! Obviously many tourists have made off with the towels...huh? Thankfully we had a 10,000 forint note in Bruce's wallet or we would have been towel-less for the day!
After our experience at the towel counter... we spent the next couple of hours enjoying all the different baths with different temperatures and minerals added to each. We tried a quick sauna (in what we translated was the aromatherapy sauna), which is definitely not Bruce's thing but we enjoyed how cool the pools felt afterwards. To round out our day and get the whole experience, we each bought a 30minute massage. The ladies were sturdy Hungarian masseurs who knew how to find and work out all the kinks of a touring cyclists legs (and rest of the body) in a half an hour. It was heaven! We were both a little groggy after our massage, so we stumbled back into the indoor mentholated pool before we left to get lunch.
Now, we had thought that since we bought a day ticket, that would have meant that we could come back to the baths later in the day, but apparently the day ticket doesn't come with re-admittance rights! We were very disappointed, because we really enjoyed the baths but didn't want to stay all day through the noonday sun. (Barbecued Brucie doesn't make for a good rest day...) So we returned our little bracelets and headed out back to the subway. No matter, our experience at these baths will definitely influence our day plans when we go to another bath house in Istanbul. We are both really looking forward to that!
We took the subway back to the apartment. Did yet another load of laundry. Looked at some online recommendations for lunch and had lunch at a bistro in the old jewish quarter. We saw the synagogue in Budapest (which you actually have to pay an admittance fee to enter). Jumping from shady spot to shady spot, we saw a bit more of the city but it was so hot that we just headed back to the apartment to shower, rest, and rehydrate.
In the evening, we went shopping for supplies for tomorrow. We are not sure of the shop opening hours in the towns we will be passing through, so we bought enough food for all three meals. We stopped at a gelato stand for an evening treat, then off to bed for the weary travelers.
Final thoughts about this city: Budapest is a beautiful, old, storied city with a lot to see. It has become a lot more westernized in recent years (for better or worse). Lots of people speak English. The prices are very high. Hungarian is an awesome language that makes absolutely no sense. We prefer small places to big (they are easier to handle as cycle tourists). Glad we came... glad to move on...
The World is Ours!
Wednesday July 24 - Day 28 - Rest Day - Total 1063miles
Yay! A rest day! When we woke up it was already getting pretty steamy in Budapest. We have had to keep the storm shades down on our big window overlooking the pedestrian district because the sun heats up the place instantly. We made coffee in our tiny kitchenette and headed out for a day on the town. We picked up some pastries at the little CBA supermarket on the corner for breakfast. These pastries were some sort of Hungarian sturdy/flaky cinnamon roll the size of Bruce's head. They were good!
We took the subway out to Szechenyi baths. These are the public baths with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, saunas, heated and medicated pool, etc... This bath house was recommended specifically because it had outdoor pools (good on a hot day) and because they are the most famous of all the Budapest baths. They are located by the city's park in a beautiful old yellow building (if you can call it that... it is huge!) built a very long time ago just for the purpose of swimming and relaxing. We bought a normal day ticket, even though a very nice/very blond lady tried to sell us a package that was quadruple the price. We then had to go downstairs to rent towels...
Now, how much does a towel cost? Well, our towel rentals were more-or-less reasonable at about $3.50 (700 forints) each for the day... but... the deposit for the towel was 10,000 forints, about $50, to make sure we return them by the end of the day. WOW! Obviously many tourists have made off with the towels...huh? Thankfully we had a 10,000 forint note in Bruce's wallet or we would have been towel-less for the day!
After our experience at the towel counter... we spent the next couple of hours enjoying all the different baths with different temperatures and minerals added to each. We tried a quick sauna (in what we translated was the aromatherapy sauna), which is definitely not Bruce's thing but we enjoyed how cool the pools felt afterwards. To round out our day and get the whole experience, we each bought a 30minute massage. The ladies were sturdy Hungarian masseurs who knew how to find and work out all the kinks of a touring cyclists legs (and rest of the body) in a half an hour. It was heaven! We were both a little groggy after our massage, so we stumbled back into the indoor mentholated pool before we left to get lunch.
Now, we had thought that since we bought a day ticket, that would have meant that we could come back to the baths later in the day, but apparently the day ticket doesn't come with re-admittance rights! We were very disappointed, because we really enjoyed the baths but didn't want to stay all day through the noonday sun. (Barbecued Brucie doesn't make for a good rest day...) So we returned our little bracelets and headed out back to the subway. No matter, our experience at these baths will definitely influence our day plans when we go to another bath house in Istanbul. We are both really looking forward to that!
We took the subway back to the apartment. Did yet another load of laundry. Looked at some online recommendations for lunch and had lunch at a bistro in the old jewish quarter. We saw the synagogue in Budapest (which you actually have to pay an admittance fee to enter). Jumping from shady spot to shady spot, we saw a bit more of the city but it was so hot that we just headed back to the apartment to shower, rest, and rehydrate.
In the evening, we went shopping for supplies for tomorrow. We are not sure of the shop opening hours in the towns we will be passing through, so we bought enough food for all three meals. We stopped at a gelato stand for an evening treat, then off to bed for the weary travelers.
Final thoughts about this city: Budapest is a beautiful, old, storied city with a lot to see. It has become a lot more westernized in recent years (for better or worse). Lots of people speak English. The prices are very high. Hungarian is an awesome language that makes absolutely no sense. We prefer small places to big (they are easier to handle as cycle tourists). Glad we came... glad to move on...
The World is Ours!