Thermal Bath Time!

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I woke up at 9 which was good since breakfast was over at 10 (it’s my favorite meal of the day, can’t miss it, plus its included in the price of the room!). I really didn’t have a plan for the day so when I saw that Elyane and Emma were at the hostel (Elyane liked our hostel so much she booked the rest of her stay there and Emma tagged along) I asked what they were doing for the day. It turns out they were going to the Thermal baths that Budapest was known for and asked if I would like to join (boy would I ever! A little bit of “therapeutic” relaxing never hurt anyone, and when in Rome . . .) So we got Dan (a nice Welsh guy in my room) to come along as well. Now I am all for equality but Emma, Elyane, and I all agreed that between us that Dan should have the map and lead us there, since we all didn’t have any sense of direction. We had to hop on the public transport (read: metro, but oldest metro in Eastern Europe , which we thought wouldn’t be a good idea, but as it turns out we were recommended to take it!) and the metro was actually really nice!

We made to the spa and once inside we weren’t completely sure of how everything worked with buying a ticket and actually getting to the baths themselves, but we figured out that you had a few choices of packages to buy for the spa. A lady came up and asked if we wanted massages but the prices weren’t as good as you would expect so we declined.

You could get the standard lockeroom changing area, or you could rent a cabin for some privacy. Since none of us wanted to pay the extra we just got the standard changing area. Dan and the rest of us parted ways to go change into our bathing suits. On our way down to the locker room it was a bit scary since it seriously looked like a mental institution. The doors looked like blast doors, and it was just room after room after room of lockers (how many people come here?!). We got to our lockers and had to figure out how to lock them, upon check in you were given a band that looked exactly like a wrist watch, but instead of it having a clock face it was just blank. We then figured out that if you pressed the “face of the watch” down on the button of one of the lockers and it locked, and if you pressed that same watch down on the locker it would unlock. We had fun testing to see if it really was unique to the one watch and it was! It was a great system; I just wonder how many people forget which locker they are since there isn’t anything you take with you to remind you.

We met up with Dan and headed to the first section of the baths, it was a giant outdoor heated pool that had a fountain spewing water into one section, and if you sat under it just right you could get a water massage from the jetting water! After we finished there we went to the next outdoor pool, it was just as warm but it had a whirlpool in the middle! To get to it you swam to the center of the pool, then there was a circle wall built out of tiles where there was only 1 opening to it. Once inside the big circle you could feel the water jets were all pointing the same way (they were powerful!) and they would push you along, I couldn’t get enough it was so much fun!

We then headed to the sauna, and let me tell you it was the hottest sauna I have ever been in! I was having trouble breathing from the start, and only after 5 minutes of sitting down in the hot room I started to get very light headed. Luckily, right outside of the sauna was the start of one of the baths, it was 16 degrees Celsius, that’s 60 degrees Fahrenheit! It was very chilly, but felt awesome after you had just roasted in the sauna. The pool itself was very small, maybe 4 feet across in a square, just enough to boldly walk in and dunk yourself in and give your body a shock! Plus, there was also a little area where ice was available to put on your body, very nice!

We then went further into the baths, (note: this place is huge!) all in all there were probably 12 different pools inside, all different sizes (ranging from 5 feet in diameter, to a full on Olympic sized swimming pool), all different temperatures (the coldest being 14 degrees Celsius (57 F), up to 36 degrees Celsius (97 F) and all had different homeopathic things added to them (no idea what they were). Some pools were a bit green tinged, some were cloudy, some were clear, some smelled funny, etc., and you just went from pool to pool to pool staying as long as you like!

All in all it was fun, not only the experience, but also trying to figure everything out! We left and all bought groceries and had a relaxing dinner that night, the hostel organizes something every night and Sunday night is chill out movie night. I got in with my groceries and I found Irish Dave watching Brave heart, and he told me that it’s the best movie ever made. (We were like, but Dave, aren’t you Irish?) But I agreed it was a really good movie. Dave popped some popcorn and we all relaxed (relaxing all day in thermal pools can just take it out of you 😉 ).

A little later I finally got a chance to talk to Mom and Dad on Skype to see what they are up to, Dad is in the process of buying a brand spanking new candy apple red, 5.0L, v8 Mustang convertible! (try saying that 5 times fast) Go Dad! Now that’s living (just don’t spend too much of my inheritance, haha, nah, live it up while you can!) I also got a chance to tell them how things had been going which was nice.

I also talked to Ayşe on facebook chat! (She works at the Apricot hotel where Dad and I stayed for a week in Istanbul and where my brother and I stayed for 2 nights after the tour) What a treat! Our conversation could only go so far since my Turkish is limited after the formal hello, how are you; I’m good and you, thank you! But luckily Dad had also gotten on facebook and was able to translate what she was saying (I would copy her sentence and paste it into my conversation with Dad, he would translate it into English, then type what I should write back in Turkish – quite the process, but we got it done) It was lovely chatting with her and she said I must come back soon so she can take me to the Black sea region of Turkey. If all goes well I will be back in Turkey before too long, but for now I am enjoying my time in Europe, it makes it so much better since I have met some great people here!
Okuma için teşekkür ederim
B

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Photos

Riding the metro!
Trying to figure out where we need to get off . . .who gave me the map #@#$(%* ?!

When buying groceries I found this . . . .
Not so much