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After getting another train....this time to Hungary from Croatia, we arrived in Budapest. The hotel was 200m from the train station which was handy and we were checked in, in no time.
Budapest is impressive. The city is actually divided in two by the Danube River - on one side is the Buda district and the other is Pest.
The local currency is the "Hungarian Forint". One EURO = 240 Forint and rising. I don’t know how the kids manage in school with this; the maths must get pretty heavy when trying to work out the price of a car or god forbid a house!
Budapest is a unique city in more than one way. For those who love spa's and wellness (and that’s ME), it is the only capital city, which abounds in natural fountains of water. Like Iceland, they have tons of thermal springs under this city. They funnel that water into essentially gigantic outdoor hot tubs. Million of litres of thermal water flows forth daily from over 100 natural thermal springs.
After much discussion we decided to go and visit these spring water baths and we arrived at what looked more like a Grand
Palace than somewhere you take a bath. Very grand indeed!! And after trying to read the Hungarian signs for 10 minutes; it seemed to cost about €10 and you get €1 back if you are out in 2 hrs! (why? that's beyond me) no one seemed to be able to translate to me why either. Anyway after you make your way down some tunnels underground and a bit of a maze, you find these changing rooms where there's "one-size-fits-all swimming trunks" available to rent.... (blush!!!) and that’s the end of that story.....
The baths are lovely and you have a choice between the very hot and the very cold. Supposedly they have some healing properties or so the story goes. Well worth a visit if only to dip your toe.
For all of you out there who see no end to the recession and all the doom and gloom... have a look at what we found on the bridge in Budapest (see picture insert). With nothing more than some plain hay, some guy managed to make all types of incredible '
hay animals' - No excuses now....
Overall, Budapest was great. We spent some time in those 'all
you can eat restaurants', exploring downtown and of course drinking coffee!!
Lovely food and beautiful architecture to see and whether relaxing in the Baths or wandering about the city, Budapest will add Hungarian spice to any European trip. Well worth a visit.
Some Trivia *For coffee lovers; the best Coffee I had in Budapest was in Costa Coffee! Tasty!
* Did you know Iceland wasn’t the only country to go ‘belly up’ during the current financial crisis!! Hungary also had its hand out for the punch bowl, and was handed €25 Billion as a part of a rescue package by the IMF in October 2008.
* Did you know that the
The Rubics Cube was invented in Budapest!! I bet you didn’t!!
* Did you know also that Hungary fell under communism after World War 2 and it wasn’t until 1990 and post the collapse of the Berlin Wall, that Hungary held its first multiparty elections and initiated a free market economy.
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Brian haggerty
non-member comment
Budapest
One of my all time favorite Cities. So glad you both liked it. I was there when the Wall was still up, but it was always one of the "freeer" countries. As you say, beautiful architecture and yes, I went to the very same bath houses. It's actulaly quite famous. Anyway, I have a lonjg way to catch up on this trip and so far it's fascinnating.