My new hotel has a light on the smoke alarm that flashes so brightly, I can see it through my eyelids, and people upstairs in the dentist’s (I think) decide it’s a good idea to move furniture around at 5am, but I have cunningly brought an eye mask and earplugs with me – essentials for travel.
Yesterday I bought a combo ticket for the baths and a boat trip. There’s no obvious connection other than water but I wanted to do both and they were slightly cheaper if you booked them together.
Baths first. I take a bus thinking that I’ll see more interesting things than on the metro, but actually the route is pretty boring. Once you get to the place, though, it’s very nice. Széchenyi Baths is at the edge of a city park with various other entertainments.
The baths themselves are very grand, and they are only one of a number of baths. Budapest has 120 thermal springs! These aren’t baths for swimming in, they are for sitting and absorbing the health benefits. It’s like a Roman baths: there are hot rooms and hot, warm and cold pools. As you can imagine, I left the cold one well alone.
After trying all the indoor stuff, the sun had come out and I felt brave enough to try the outdoor pool, too. It was nice and warm as well! The air was still pretty cold, though.
The baths are expensive, but you could spend all day here. There is at least one cafe and plenty of free drinking water. My recommendation would be, if you have time, spend several hours here, with lunch in the middle, and go with a friend because it would be more fun with someone to chat to.
I had lunch in the park next to the baths, and then after tidying myself up in the hotel room, I went out for my boat trip. On the way I found the cool, stylish part of Pest. I’m happy with where I’m staying, though, because it’s very well connected and the restaurants are much cheaper round here.
The boat trip was only an hour up and back, but it was a good way to see both sides of the city. Buda is more hilly and greener, and despite being on the western side, looks more oriental. Pest is flat and has your traditional grand 19th century European buildings, and some much more modern ones.
The Carlton Bridge in Glasgow (or North Portland Street Bridge, to give it its proper name) is supposed to be based on the Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge over the Danube. It seems plausible to me.
In the evening I went to see a guilty pleasure of a film, Final Destination Bloodlines, in a standard-issue shopping centre, and had some not great, lukewarm Chinese food at the food court beforehand. It may not feel authentically Hungarian, but I bet it’s more similar to what a typical Hungarian person does on a Saturday night than all the other stuff I’ve got up to! Now I think I’ll nip out to Lidl to get some water and a snack. I’ll try to be a proper tourist again tomorrow.
K C Murdarasi 
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