Thermal Bath 4: Gellert

Oh yes, I do like this one. It is one of the newer ones, opening (with the Gellert Hotel) in 1918, although the thermal spring on which it is built was well known by the Knights of St John (by all accounts an extremely clean order of men!) in the 13th century.  The décor is art nouveau splendour, with stained glass and colourful tiling throughout. It was damaged in the second world war (it was actually operating during the war!), but restored shortly after, and outdoor pools were added quite a bit later.

Outdoor wave pool in summer



Gellert Hotel

I remember having come here in 2004, just before Hungary joined the European Union, and it was a little more austere. There were women only days and men only days, women only pools and men only pools, and these were all a little faded glamour. The massage and treatment cubicles are tasteful and private (not like the stainless steel tables laid out in rows in one big room like a synchronized surgical unit that I have the good fortune to deal with).

As elsewhere, you get your Dick Tracy wristband (here it worked seamlessly but it might just be because I know the drill now) and use either a locker or a tiny change cabin. Again, as for the others, the water contains The water contains calcium, magnesium, hydrocarbonate, alkalis, chloride, sulfate and fluoride and serves to treat degenerative joint illnesses, spine problems, chronic and sub-acute joint inflammations, vertebral disk problems, neuralgia, vasoconstriction and circulatory disturbances, asthmas and chronic bronchitis. It's like reading my autobiography of ailments!

The mosaic floors and walls of the main entrance, hallways and surrounding the pools, were made by the famous Zsolnay factory, which I must admit I had never heard of, but further research indicates that yes, indeedy, it is a very famous factory indeed. It started to produce stoneware and other ceramics in 1853, but the son of the founder took it to the world by exhibiting at many world, including Paris in 1878, where the company won a Grand Prix (and where the newly completed head of the Statue of Liberty was also exhibited).  By 1914, Zsolnay was the largest company in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although it was resigned to making insulators during the first world war, and after, during the Serbian occupation. The name changed along the way but changed back in 1982 when times started to get better. Still a vital concern, the company signed a huge contract with IKEA in 2008 to supply a whopping 5,000 tonnes of ceramics every year!

The Gellert baths are quite pricey, so it's good to have enough time to thoroughly enjoy them. And be honest. Can you look at these photos and not want to go there??

tile floor in the entrance hall

entrance hall



stained glass ceiling

Thermal Bath 3: Lukács

I wanted to try the Lukács thermal bath because it is less well known by tourists, and is particularly popular with locals.  It geothermal waters were used by the Knights of St. John, a Christian military order dedicated to caring for the sick, in the 12th Century. They were followed by the Knights Hospitallers, and the Rhodos and the Maltese Knights, who built baths next to their monasteries. The bath operated through the time of the Turks, in the 16th Century, but then the energy of the springs was used primarily to produce gunpowder and for grinding wheat.

The first spa hotel and wellness centre was built in the 1880’s, with a drinking cure hall (the "pump room") added in 1937, and a daytime hospital established in 1979 (the National Institute of Rheumatology and Physiotherapy) to treat locomotive diseases and act as a physiotherapy centre.

In 1999, the two open-air pools were modernised, and the so-called mud-pond, hardly used before, was replaced by what is endearing called the fancy pool, equipped with a river current, effervescence, neck shower, water beam back massage hidden in the seat banks, whirlpool, geysers, and effervescent bed. This is built completely surrounded by the walls of the hospital, serving as a liquid courtyard.

The primary challenge of the Lukács is to actually find the entrance.  It's not far from the Buda side of the Margit bridge, across a bit of parkland and into a maze of yellow buildings. the pump room is easy to find, and its strong suphur smell hits you as you go inside to ask the attendant where the heck the pools are. Following a winding path to the end, one enters a modest door and sees a payment kiosk.

That's the primary challenge, meaning that's just the first challenge.

Once inside I followed various hallways and followed helpful hand directions to find the locker room, but no locker worked with my plastic wrist band (identical to the one at Rudas except for its colours). Ah, I have a cabin, ok, where is that? More hallways, past a pool, past more pools, and then I am directed to cabin 6. Still, the band doesn't work. Guided to another section where there is another cabin 6. ??? Oh, yeah, it gets better. There are at least two more cabin 6s dotted throughout the complex. By this time I have used up 20 minutes of my two hour time and haven't got my skivvies off. 

Finally, finally, I am in and changed and have a rented towel (an exorbitant amount that I am told will mostly be returned upon departure).

Tertiary challenge was finding out where to start. The two outdoor swimming pools looked lovely but are swimming pool temperature, and it is freezing outside and starting to get dark. But I do go into the Fancy Pool - I mean who can resist not going into the Fancy Pool?  It's not hot but it is warm enough to enjoy spinning along the circular water river with other adults who are smiling like children. Trying to swim against the current is a good workout, as long as you are happy enough to not make any forward headway. There are shallow sunbathing shelves with jets under and over. But the best was just to sit neck deep and look around at the lovely golden building encircling the pool. On Saturday nights there are bath parties with DJ'd music and light shows which I can imagine get pretty raucous, and which has made it more well known and popular with those less medicinally affiliated.

Getting a little chilled, I moved into the older parts, the Turkish pools that had steps, or tiled seats in them and warmer temperatures.  There is a modern cold plunge pool of course,

and saunas and steam rooms as well, but the most intriguing pool to me was the Weight Bath, built for stretching the back and treating spinal injuries and "deformities". Much as I don't really consider my scoliosis a 'deformity' I suppose speaking strictly anatomically it is, so I was intrigued at the narrow deep pool with a sort of shoulder grip so that one can hang straight down in the water.  If I used this every day I might get my lost 2 inches of height back. Alas, it is a one time affair so I channeled a bit of appreciation for it.

As one might expect from a hospital that provided prescriptions to the various treatments, it is accessible to the disabled. The list of therapies identified for its use are:

• traumatic aftercare
• aftercare following bone or joint operation
• the inactive stages of chronic, inflammatory locomotor disorders (eg. rheumatoid arthritis, articular diseases, Bechterew-disease)
• chronic neuritis
• nervous pains
• the inactive stages of chronic degenerative bone and joint diseases
• osteoporosis (calcium deficiency of the bones)
• degenerative joint diseases
• spinal deformity
• discus hernia
• neuralgia
• post-accident rehabilitation

The springs themselves are rich in (deep breath here) calcium hydrogencarbonate and calcium hydrogensulfite, magnesium hydrogencarbonate and magnesium hydrogensulfite, choride, sodium and fluoride ions.

I had such a good time that I did not get my towel deposit ba
ck as I was 15 minutes past my ticket time, which of course I blame wholeheartedly on the hunt for the correct and illusive cabin number 6.

good clean fun

Thermal Bath 2: Széchenyi

The plan was to go to one of the few baths on the Pest side, and one of the largest in Europe, as well as one of the newest in Hungary, being "only" just over 100 years old, although it has been added to several times since it was built in 1913. It is situated in the expanse of City Park, which is able to contain its 18 pools and 10 saunas and steam rooms. Named after a politician, statesman, theorist and writer, who presumably bathed as well, Széchenyi baths are truly spectacular.

Or at least, I think they are. I don't know exactly because on my way towards City Park I stumbled upon a large Christmas market with wonderful crafts and foods, mulled wine and the best grog I've ever had (with freshly muddled ginger and a slice of lime). It was cold and the coin toss between warm lights and hot drinks won out over bathing in the outdoors.

Next time, Széchenyi, you are mine!

Thermal Bath 1: Rudas

Day 1 of 4: Rudas Thermal Bath
Under Gellert Hill lies the Rudas thermal bath, first built in 1550, during the time of the Turkish occupation. This old part has an octagonal pool under a traditional dome.

At the end of the 19th century, a therapeutic swimming facility and a sauna was added. There is also a newer 'wellness section', with a pool fed by the water spring Juventus, a cold water immersion pool, an outdoor rooftop pool and a hot water pool.

the spread of Rudas bath,
with the rooftop pool on the left
and the original Turkish pool roof on the right

small rooftop pool under the dome

Now let's get one thing straight. Neither I nor my spine do cold water plunge pools (i.e., anything under 20 degrees C) so just cross that off your list of expectations.  I can be persuaded to sit in an outdoor pool, but not in the dark of a winter day on the roof of a riverside building.

The waters have been touted as "slightly radioactive" and I refuse to inquire further as to what exactly that means. Its minerals include sulphate, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate and fluoride ion, and this is apparently good for vertebral disks, lack on calcium in the bones and the usual joint challenges.  Bring it, Rudas.

First is negotiating the costs and mechanics of taking the waters. It's possible to rent a bath sheet, which is really a single bed sheet. One is required to wear a bathing cap, men too! and it's not a bad idea to have flip flops. When you pay, you receive a plastic wrist apparatus, which looks like a child's play watch with no water face. This is to be held next to an entrance gate, where a light turns from red to green to let you through. It also activates the lock on a locker in the co-ed change room, which has little closets for changing modestly.

the old changing cabins

Then along and up stairs to a lovely swimming pool, but I was not here to swim. I carried on to the wellness centre, a modern room, with two big pools of the same temperature for some reason, spontaneous jets and spouts, and soft lighting. At one end was the cold plunge pool and a skoocum hot pool. Clean, roomy, bright. Windows look out onto the street which had the added bonus of appearing a big smug to the wrapped up commuters on the bus as it stopped at the red light.  A restaurant and rooftop pool were up a spiral stairway, perhaps a stairway to Heaven but I was not ready to make that journey yet.

A delightful experience all in all, although the strangest thing happened once dressed. It must be the particular mix of minerals in the baths that caused it. My right big toe, which had been broken when I was about 12 years old, was painful right along the break line for quite a while afterwards.  I wonder if others who have suffered breaks in places that are possible to heal properly have felt the same line of pain.  I may have to investigate further.

Waterbabying in Buda

I almost got to waterbaby in Pest as well but got a bit sidetracked by a Christmas market and a big glass of mulled wine.

Yes, I have decided that waterbaby can be a verb.

I waterbaby
You waterbaby
He/She waterbabies
We waterbaby, etc.

Verbs generally denote action of course, and setting out to explore the therapeutic value of thermal baths in Hungary's largest city, in winter, requires effort being made: physically and intellectually if not linguistically.

As everyone's favourite information source, Wikipedia, indicates: "A thermal bath is a warm body of water. It is often referred to as a spa, which is traditionally used to mean a place where the water is believed to have special health-giving properties." The therapy part comes from spending time in thermal baths as part of one's regular medical and wellness practice, and doctors in Hungary often prescribe spa water treatments to their patients, young and old.

Budapest is not the only place in Hungary with thermal baths, but there are a lot of them dotted along the Danube dividing Buda and Pest. Most of these are along the Buda shore, which makes sense as the limestone rises up in hills and benchs, so that layers of hot mineral waters lie in layers of rock. The friends, Romans and countrymen settled in the area in part because of these hot springs, and there are still ruins from this period to be found here.

The new era was not so new to us, but some of the baths that were built during this time are incredibly still in use despite their centuries, when the Ottoman Empire stretched up this far north.  Their 16th century oval roofs and octagonal pools are striking and recognizable to anyone who has spent time in Turkey. The next great era of thermal baths was the late 19th century, with grand palace-like halls over and around enormous pools, indoors and outdoors, for the hordes.

For me, it was an opportunity to: a) explore a key part of Hungary's cultural practice; b) get warm in a frosty cold Budapest in winter; and c) see whether or not there was anything in the claims of medicinal value placed on the waters for degenerative bone conditions and chronic joint inflammations, among other things.  My curvy little spine was in for a treat!

4 days: 1 spa a day; among several to choose from.