Budapest is a relly geat city. It seems to have the perfect mix for my likings. It's westernised enough that most things are pretty simple to do, but not too much that it has been over-run. It still has a very hungarian feel. There is also so much history here and many buildings have not yet been restored to within an inch of their life so that they appear fake and straight out of disney land which is the case in many cities.
After an early start and our escape from bratislava we arrived in budapest and soon found that it is the home of the world's fastest escalators. The escalators in the metro stations go at least twice as fast as normal, if not more. Getting on isnt simply a matter of casually walking onto it. You need to time it perfect, jump and prey that you land in the middle of a step before they seperate, otherwise you will fall down on top of everyone behind you. Getting off at the top is nearly as challenging.
Our first afternoon here was spent wallowing in the beautiful warm waters of one of the old turkish bath houses. We got a small glorified broom cupboad to share where we could get changed and leave our things - entrusting their safety to a man wearing what looked like white pyjamas.
We spent a while trying the various pools indoors which all ranged in temperature and wondering what their mysterious "healing abilities" were. I tried the sauna, but I think that I may have accidentally stumbled into a former communist torture chamber for punishing traitors. The steam was so hot it burned your mouth nose and throat. I couldnt last any longer than about 20sec. I felt like I was about to collapse on the floor where I would probably be steamed to death - if thats somehow possible. Now I now how lobsters feel.
We knew that there were pools outside, but we couldnt seem to find the way out to them. Eventually we noticed that a lot of people were coming in and out of the shower cubicles and discovered the small door in the corner that led outside.
The pools outside are really fantastic. They are open all year round, even in winter. The temperature is in the mid 30s, there are ornate fountains everywhere and the surrounding buildings are very old and very beautiful. They even had a whirlpool [which is allways on fast and doesnt cut everyone's toes - oasis!]
The next day we took a hop on, hop off bus tour to cover the main sights of the city, as there is just so much to see. I didnt bother trying to see everything as I know i'll come back here again.
Up in the castle area on the hill in Buda, we happened accross an underground labrynth and decided to have a look inside. It was pretty feaky in parts, very dark, candles and lantern everywhere and lots of strange drumming and music. Towards the end though we found this strange fountain which was squirting out red wine. It didnt taste very nice and was all a bit strange and unexpected.
At the end there was a "courage labrynth" that was pitch black and you had to find your way out by keeping your hand on the wall. Morgan was too scared to do it.
That night we hit the town with some people from the hostel - one of whom used to go to Mt Austin.
Thismorning we headed out to statue park which houses a collection of old soviet era statues that used to be all around the city which was rather interesting, then visited a museum of terror, which although was really really good, was mainly in hungarian...
Heading to split on the croatian coast tomorow. Cant Wait
