Budapest: Baths, beauty, and eating our fill in Hungary

If you'd asked me before coming to Rome which European countries I would visit, you can bet that Hungary would not have been on the list. Nothing personal, I assure you, but forgive me for saying that it's not a nation that garners much attention from my demographic. At least not until I joined the "traveler" demographic and realized how much of a jewel the capital city of Budapest - pronounced BOO-dah-pesht - is to the rest of the world.

Following some advice from my mother, who'd heard good things about it, I and three friends decided to give Budapest a try and arrived in "Europe's most underrated city" on Valentine's Day. We found that title to be quite accurate. Picked up at the airport by Sándor, our smiling hostel owner, we were quickly inundated with information about just how much there was to do. A vibrant music scene following the tradition of two sons of Hungary - Liszt and Bartók - and some of the best concert halls in the world. The largest synagogue on Earth, even larger than any in Israel (at least in cubic feet; the largest in square feet is apparently in New York). Dozens of bath complexes still in operation. Roman ruins from the imperial era. Beautiful parks and memorials to the victims of the invasions suffered by the Hungarian people. Thriving nightlife, fantastic cuisine, a righteously famous river, and some of the most breathtaking buildings in Europe. The not-so-distant shadows of multiple invasions (Romans, Mongols, Turks, Soviets), brutality under Nazi occupation, and a dark communist dictatorship had been tempered (though not erased) by a spirit of vitality, beauty, and optimism. We soon felt overwhelmed by all there was to learn and see!

The Blue Danube!

Our only appointment that first evening was a nighttime cruise on the beautiful Danube ("Duna" in Hungarian), the second-longest river in Europe that winds its way through southwestern Germany, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, and central Bulgaria into the Black Sea. Thanks to this lifeline, Budapest - originally three cities (Buda, Pest, and Óbuda) - became a beautiful conglomeration of culture reminiscent at times of Vienna, other times of Paris, other times even of Russia. We glided up and down the river with celebratory Valentine's Day champagne to drink, enchanted by the brilliantly lit Parliament building on the flat Pest bank and by Buda Castle and Saint Matthias Church on the hilly Buda side. (We also learned on our cruise the names of several other famous Hungarians in addition to Liszt and Bartók, such as Rubik himself, whose famous Cube has kept millions entertained for decades.)

Matthias Church in Buda

 

Parliament and the Danube at night

Valentines on our river cruise! (Parliament visible in the background)

Buda Castle

Celebrating the fact that our hostel was in the old Jewish Quarter - now the bustling center of the culinary and social scene - we ate a delicious Hungarian dinner full of typical ingredients: meat, cabbage, and paprika (I tried a gooseburger with great success). It didn't seem possible that we'd be hungry the next morning, but upon arriving in Budapest's enormous Central Market, our stomachs were quickly rumbling while surrounded by fresh produce, just-baked pastries, and vendors selling warm street food like langos (fried dough topped with anything from cheese and sausage to fruit and Nutella.) We didn't stay long, however, because we had a free walking tour that morning to give us the grand tour of what turned out to be a larger city than we originally thought. Winding our way through chic, upbeat Pest at first, we crossed one of the many large bridges across the Danube into older, classier Buda and enjoyed fantastic views of the river and the city from Fisherman's Bastion at the top of Castle Hill. 

Buda (including the steeple of Matthias Church and the white towers of Fisherman's Bastion)

 

Parliament and Pest by day from across the river at Buda's Fisherman's Bastion

But that afternoon turned out to be the real adventure: experiencing the (in)famous thermal baths. Still a definitive feature of modern Hungarian culture, they are probably the most striking sign of Ottoman-Turk influence still lingering from their occupation in the 16th-17th centuries. The waters around the Danube are known for their medicinal qualities and attract thousands each year, and bathing is a treasured part of life's routine for many locals. After some careful research that ended up doing very little to help us out in any way, we chose the Rudas Baths (ROO-dahsh), one of the original Turkish complexes still in operation and frequented by tourists and locals alike. For obvious reasons, I didn't photograph the inside of the baths. But rest assured that it was an escapade that will forever go down in the annals of most bizarre and enjoyable things I've done.

For about four thousand Hungarian forint - which amounted to less than fifteen euros - we were swept into a crowded locker room to put on our swimsuits and head for the baths. Using a digital armband system, we had access to the swimming pool, the saunas, and the baths themselves; for extra charges, we had the option of buying a number of massages or a pedicure, many of them claiming to hold the special healing qualities the waters themselves boasted. It was immediately, startlingly evident - and somewhat a relief - that one did not need to be a physical specimen to feel comfortable in the baths. We'll just leave it at that.

I almost lost my nerve as I peered into the stone room full of Speedoed men and bikinied women, steam rising from the pools so thickly that it was difficult to make out the back entrance. At least a dozen different languages were being spoken around us, including the infamous Hungarian (officially classified as the fifth most difficult language in the world and completely unrelated to any other except very distantly to Finnish). The deal was almost sealed when I had to flee from the shower stall next to a man who'd fully disrobed and was visible through the painfully translucent frosted glass wall. Never had I felt more awkward - and American - in my life. But if we could do as the Romans do, why couldn't we do as the Hungarians did? Giving each other grim smiles of reassurance, we took the plunge.

Within minutes, we were utterly at ease in the warmth of the atmosphere. The main chamber had a large hot pool in the middle surrounded by four smaller pools of temperatures varying from 28 degrees Celsius to 42 degrees Celsius (about 108 degrees Fahrenheit). Following the trend, we made a slow rotation around a stone domed ceiling that was original from the time of the Turks. It felt very much like stepping back in time, except that men and women could now bathe together in brightly colored swimsuits instead of separately in the nude. (N.B. There are single-sex days each week when, we are assured, the majority do bathe in the nude.) Whether or not the water has medicinal qualities remains to be seen - I was left hoping for a miraculous acne recovery in vain - but there was a deeply warming, relaxing element in the whole ritual that left us feeling at once rejuvenated and sleepy. It was easy to see the allure of coming to the baths after a long day at work to calm down and warm up before heading home for a delicious Hungarian dinner. 

 

Baths = conquered

Although you couldn't call our long day of walking work, we did reward ourselves handsomely with a spectacular dinner after the baths. Sándor had recommended an all-you-can-eat buffet (not an intriguing-but-still-rather-repugnant buffet like Shaky's but an elegant European smorgasbord) loaded with traditional Hungarian fare: That means rich in hearty meat, savory spices, potatoes, cheese, stews, and paprika (the national spice). Following my goose excursion, I tasted shark, burgundy venison, ewe's cheese, catfish paprikas (marinated in a heavenly kind of paprika sauce), and a host of other novel nibbles until even I was full.

On Sunday morning we rose early and walked along the Andrássy Utca, the Hungarian Champs-Élysées (and a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with both banks of the Danube and Castle Hill), until we reached Heroes' Square. We stayed in the beautiful piazza flanked by statues of famous Hungarians until it was time to head back to the airport, where we indulged in another Hungarian specialty: Burger King (about as common as Starbucks is in the States). It was genuinely disappointing to have to leave so soon, and we assured Sándor with heartfelt sincerity that we would be quick to return and even quicker to recommend Budapest to our friends.

An interesting combination of Turkish (the once-invaders) and Hungarian flags

Heroes' Square

Special thanks to my old math classmate, Robi Szabo, for his last minute help with Hungarian and Budapest knowledge! Budapest was most definitely - from the moment we landed - a city worth visiting and revisiting, rich in history, alive with culture, and peppered with paprika.