Pest Back-streets, originally uploaded by DSNelson.
We resurfaced at Hősök tere (Heroes Square) which is a wide open space with a large monument in the centre surrounded by museums and galleries at either side; it’s quite a sight. We wandered past the monument through to the park behind and around the lake where children and ducks were playing. We passed a restaurant that seemed to float on top of the lake which played smooth jazz music while patrons ate on the patio (pictured). Heading towards the spa at the northern end of the park we picked up a large pretzel which put nearly put my body into shock from the enormous dose of rock salt, once we could take no more we fed the rest to the birds and watched them flock from miles around at our feet.
The Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő was our spa of choice which occupies the northern corner of the park. The Széchenyi is a popular destination for tourists particularly, it is modeled like a roman villa with spa-pool-after-spa-pool dotted around the buildings surrounding 3 central outside pools. After paying our 2900HUF (about £9-ish) each we were provided with a card for locker access and a hanger for our clothes we changed and headed through to the spa pools.
“Spa-culture” is common in Budapest and although £9 seems expensive by UK standards you will typically spend at least half a day in the Spa to relax and socialise, this is also the cheaper end of the scale. The Széchenyi I would compare with a high-end council swimming pool with the same kind of clientèle. We chose this one based on the fact that because I was with Carolynne, it not only allowed women, which isn’t always the case, but the baths were also fully mixed whereas some pools only partially mix genders in some pools. Some pools also disallow bathing costumes and I’m not well-traveled enough to shed my English modesty just yet.
The water is tinted green with minerals from the ground (and possibly other patrons but you try not the think about that) and it smells distinctly of sulphur with the occasional noxious cloud drifting past. The pools are small or large, shallow or deep, hot or cold with various combinations of each so there’s no shortage of choice. There are also whirlpools, hot tubs, steam rooms and saunas each designed to stretch your tolerances to each extreme environment. It was a nice sunny day outside and so the central pools were teeming with bathers speaking all manner of languages amongst their little groups. The first pool was my favourite at 38 degrees, it was like a huge hot bath with a fountain in the centre, by the side of the pool you can sit on the steps and chat or if you liked there were a number of chess games taking place at one side of the pool which seemed very popular. Although I enjoy my chess I decided against playing this time.
4 hours later…
We took a walk though Pest to find some food following the guidance of our tour book. After walking some 25 minutes around back-streets we found our chosen restaurant from the tour book, and it was closed down so opted for “Paul’s Pub” that we saw on the way. Paul’s pub looked like an English pub on the outside but once inside it was a trendy wine bar, sports bar and restaurant with no consistency in the menu. The Hungary national football team were playing on the big screen TV which meant service was slow from the distracted waiter/patron. We had a bottle of wine and ordered our food. Mine was a pancake wrapping a chicken breast in melted Gorgonzola cheese which was very nice. Carolynne chose chicken kebabs sticks which came with many things on that she couldn’t eat, and later the rest we found she couldn’t digest.. After eating we got speaking with a couple of other customers, a Hungarian football fan who spoke good English and supported Manchester United, a British contractor in tax-exile on his way back from Dubai and an American named Bill from North Carolina who became our friend for the evening.
Bill is a gaunt man of his 60′s who’s American citizenship is indicated by the peaked cap ever present on American tourists. He currently resides in Paris although by his own admission he lacks a real home. He took us to a wine bar just round the corner which was one of his favourites and has a reputation for being one of the finest in Budapest. In all honesty I can’t rate it much for his staff or the decor but the wine was certainly passable. Bill regaled us with stories of his travels, his experiences with pick-pockets and gave us some useful insights into Budapest as he has been a frequent visitor over the past decade. As one of the very few people we’d met so far that spoke fluent English it was nice to have a conversation that wasn’t overly challenging, particularly as at this point I was coming down with a migraine from being out in the sun too long and not helped by a smell I haven’t experienced in a pub since sometime around the 1st July 2007…cigarettes!
At the point my headache became unbearable we said our goodbyes and attempted unsuccessfully to find our number 8. After this we made another mistake in-spite of being warned of it previously, we took a taxi from the street. After attempting to agree an up-front price and failing we traveled back to hour hotel watching the metre rise at a rapid rate. The final value came to something near £15 which is expensive back home and obscene in Budapest given the distance. Not having full-enough wits to have a successful argument with the 20 stone skin-head driver we paid and went to bed.
To be continued…
