Szechenyi Baths in Budapest, Hungary
What a change in the weather from the 60s° in Slovakia to 93° in Budapest. Our comfortable van dropped us off at the Nexto Hotel where we stayed for two nights as our 15 day Central European trip with Intrepid Tours ended.
All of the hotels we have stayed at have been wonderful, including their full breakfast meals.
Krysthof took us on a short tour, but because it was Saint Stephen’s celebration, the Saint Stephen’s Cathedral was cordoned off as several events were happening there.
We walked past an interesting water feature in Liberty Square by the
Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation, which functions as a holocaust and Jewish memorial site.
Along Liberty Square walkway. we saw a small sculpture of Kermit, the frog, that was designed by Mihaly Kolodko, which is a nod to pop culture and culinary history where frog legs were a sought after delicacy in the 1900s in Hungary.
This is the Soviet War Memorial in honor of the Red Army troops who died liberating Budapest from the Nazis.
Just behind this memorial, we saw a statue of President Ronald Reagan, since he was instrumental in freeing Hungary from the Soviet Union.
When we came to the Parliament building that was also closed in the nearby street cars were not running, Krysthof showed us how to use the Metro automated ticketing machines.
On the way back, some of us stopped for some food at the Retro Langos Restaurant before returning to the Nexto Hotel. Mango lemonade, and Hungarian goulash was my choice while others had something that looked like pizza.
That night, there was a massive fireworks display along the Danube River and Parliament building that many of our group attended. I decided not to attend, but did hear the explosions. Rebecca, from Canada, shared some of her pictures of the fireworks, drone show. And the mass of people leaving.
Those who went on the Buda side of the river ended up returning in crowds that resembled a mosh pit as people crammed to return over the bridge to the Pest side of the city.
The following day, we were free to tour as we wanted. I and others went to the Szechenyi Baths. Although a bit on the expensive side, at about $54, it was an amazing place where you could spend all day.
I tried out the various pools, both the indoor pools and the outdoor ones. I also tried out the saunas and the steam rooms.
Outside the steam room.
Inside the steam room
Cool pool dip after steam or sauna rooms.
I found a lounge chair and watched people go inside this whirlpool area— kind of like a merry-go-round in the water.
It turned out that later Michael, my roommate for this tour, had somehow slashed his big toe badly, and the lifeguards patched him up, including using some superglue along with bandages.
We had our farewell dinner and I had my lemonade with cranberry and goulash soup.
We all thanked Krysthof, with a card and gratuities, for providing us with such a great experience traveling through many Central European countries.
The following morning, before checking out of the Nexto Hotel, I walked down near the Parliament building and the Danube River to check out the shoes memorial that were laid out along the riverbank as a symbolic reminder of what the Nazis had done in shooting and throwing people into the Danube River during World War II.
I talked to my brother and sister-in-law the night before, and she had told me about these shoes. I was sure to go out and view them. It reminded me of the plaza full of chairs in Kraków that symbolized how the Nazis came through and tossed everybody’s possessions out the windows, including chairs.
I then enjoyed a morning ride on the street cars that ran by the Parliament building along the Pest side of the Danube River. The weather had cooled off considerably with a cloud cover and a brisk wind of about 25 mph, the temperature was right around 68° in the morning, and got up to 74° by afternoon.
After storing my bags at the Wombat Hostel, where I was staying the night before heading to Slovenia by bus, I checked out the route that I would take the following morning to the Bus Station at Nepliget. It was fairly easy with a short walk from the Wombat Hostel to the Metro Line 3. There were some very steep and long escalators down to the subway platform.
It took just a half hour to get there from the Wombat Hostel. Again, Google Maps makes it easy to find routes as well as public transportation available for travel.
Toward the evening, I returned to Saint Stephen’s Cathedral area and stopped for some goulash soup and a mango lemonade. I enjoyed watching the crowds lineup for the rose designed ice cream cones next door , and the crowds going to Saint Stephen’s Cathedral.
I again got a bottom bunk at the Wombat Hostel and enjoyed a quiet evening after a nice hot shower.
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