Szechenyi Baths!!!

This summer, I've been working on checking off my Budapest "to-do" list. There are several things in the city that I haven't done or seen, despite having been there over 20 times. The Szechenyi Bath is one of the more famous ones in Budapest, and since there are three outdoor pools, I've always wanted to go there. Today was that day. I chose a beautiful day - and by beautiful, I mean hot and sunny - great day to enjoy a dip in the pool. I don't know what it is - perhaps the lack of air conditioning and the absurdly hot weather, but I've really craved water time this summer - more than EVER before. I enjoy that feeling of the water enveloping you as you let your body just float for a bit. I like it even more in a pool because I know there aren't any fish in there, and in my skewed mind they are cleaner than lakes (though they probably really aren't with all the different people and the little kids). At any rate, it was a great afternoon at the bath, even though it's a pain to figure out where to go - I eventually got to the outside and enjoyed all three pools.

The first one had two smaller circular divides within the pool, and every so often, the jet streams would all go in a similar direction to push everyone in the circle together in a cyclone type fashion. I swirled around in that area for a good 10 minutes- it was quite fun to just let the water take you. Then, I went to the "lap" pool for a while - not really my gig but I went back and forth a couple times (good thing I didn't do that swim across Balaton- I'd have died). My favorite of the three out door pools was the one on the end - the one that was at 38 degrees celsius... 100 farenheit!!! It was like sitting in the sun in your bathtub! There was a fountain and it pushed out water so fast, that if you stood in the direct path of the water, it was like you were getting a massage - a rough one - but it felt good. I spent the most time in this pool and just laid and floated in the water.

What a great way to spend an afternoon!!! I think you all should encourage my parents to go when they are here - it's an experience no visitor to Budapest should miss!

the first pool - with the swirl in it!!

the outside pools

the lap pool

lap pool again

swirl pool

The swirl pool also had some jets that turned on every so often - and lots of older people would stake out their jet stream and wait for it to come on. It was pretty funny.

the front of the bath