Admittedly, I had some trepidations about going to the bath house. The waters are mineral water of varying temperatures ranging from fairly cold to very hot. They have 17 pools of water from which to choose and the place is massive...and beautifully old. We read ahead of time about getting a private cabin for changing and leaving our things. When we arrived, a young man approached us and asked if we needed assistance in understanding what they have to offer. We chose a program that allowed us a cabin, 30-minute massages, wrist bands that got us upstairs into the massage area with unlimited fresh fruit, tea, and water in their Palm House, which was a beautiful setting and very relaxing. We were given rubber wrist bands with a water-proofed RFID chip in it which opened the door to our cabin.
Here's our first view of the outside of Szechenyi Bath House:
We were taken on a guided tour after paying, and I took my phone so I could get photos before locking it in the cabin. These people were doing water aerobics with weights, which is offered for anyone wanting to join, I think. You can see beyond this room to more pools of varying sizes. I couldn't really take more pictures of people in the water where they were staring at me walking by. I must say, it's unusual to find me walking anywhere in a bathing suit in front of an audience.
This is the Palm House....
Three outdoor pools, and we tried all of them first. Some people just come for this and pay for the day to be in these pools. The first one actually has 3 parts to it. The outer part has some jets that shoot up and folks grab one to get a sort of massage as they move around on it. Then there's an opening to move into towards the center and that part had a current that moved you along. Finally, the one in the center had seats with small jets coming out where you sat.
The next pool was a little warmer and the last pool was their thermal pool, which was the warmest of the outdoor ones. They say to only stay in about 20 minutes. We went inside after this to try out several more.
We ate in their cafe, which was so-so. Well, I had a bag of Lay's potato chips with paprika and thought they were pretty good! Then we went upstairs and relaxed with water and fruit before our massages.
I couldn't believe it was only 30 minutes. It was relaxing...and was only a covered mattress on the floor instead of a table. She was SO good...I could have stayed there all day.
A bit of confusion where to return the towels and robes for our deposit after changing, but all worked out well and off we went back to the metro with me in my very wet Ecco sandals, which I hoped were really waterproof.
We had made reservations at Cafe Kor for 2pm but I emailed and said we wouldn't get there till at least 3, and they emailed that 3 would be fine. But then at that baths, the first massage time we could get was 2:25, so we screwed up again. I emailed our apology and asked for a later time again.
We did get in, and they were fine...it wasn't crowded at that time (5:30). This being our main meal of the day turned out to be a perfect time....like other old early-bird dinner people, ugh.
It's a charming place with just 3 tables outside. I liked our waiter. He kept his eyes on us without being intrusive...and you can see when we started, there was only one table of businessmen behind us, they left and a few couples wandered in as we were there.
First course was my wonderful cold fruit soup and we shared the appetizer plate with foie gras, brie, carpaccio, some kind of chicken with fat, tomatoes, onions, potato salad, cucumbers.
The waiter suggested Tokay, their wonderful sweet wine, with our shared main course of grilled goose liver with apples and potatoes.
Every bite was so good, we decided to each get their house desserts of the night--plum streusel and plum and sour cherry pie, both came with homemade ice cream.
And here's the bill
About $52
After dinner, we decided to stroll over the Chain Bridge which connects Buda to Pest. Again, so much beauty:
I wanted to see the inside of the 4 Seasons which we'd passed before. It's gorgeous inside...this is just their ceiling and chandelier but you can't see the stained glass along the edges.
Night walking in a city is great and something we never do at home. Of course, in El Granada, it's often too cold and foggy to even want to walk during the day!
Beautiful! I'm glad you have all these pictures; for us "nontravelers", it really gives a good picture of what other countries look like.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Connie. I write for several reasons...one is for my own recollections and remembrances of where we've been and when (like I thought we'd been to Budapest maybe 7 years ago, not 10, but my picture dates told me otherwise), and to inspire those who would like to travel and can't for some reason or need a push. Writing about what we're doing also solidifies the experience too.
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