St. Stephen's Basilica is named after Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose incorruptible right hand is housed in the reliquary. This is the most important church building in Hungary, one of the most significant tourist attractions and the third highest building in Hungary.
Equal with the Hungarian Parliament Building, it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest at 315 ft - this equation symbolizes that worldly and spiritual thinking have the same importance in this city. According to current regulations, no building can be taller then 315 ft.
After our visit to the Basilica
we really needed to get some gelato.
We just happened upon the most charming
gelato place right next to St. Stephen's,
they form your gelato into roses!
Then we walked back to the hotel
so Beth and I could change into
our swimsuits and go take a dip in the
famous Szchenyi Baths
Getting to the Baths turned out to
be the most difficult thing in the world.
Normally we would just catch the subway
right by our hotel, ride it three stops
and we would be there. However, that day
there was a huge pride festival going on
that closed down most of the city center, right
where the baths are located .... it took
us a good couple of hours to find a way around the
festival. The way we found was to walk on the sketchiest, tiniest
little side walk right next to the freeway
To our dismay, the sidewalk just ended without
getting us totally across the freeway. So, we had
no choice but to hike up our sundresses and
jump over the side of the over pass. Luckily we
had gotten far enough that this was an option, and it
was only a few feet to jump.
But we finally made it! We got
there right as the sun was setting which
made for the perfect evening relaxing
in the warm baths.
This particular pool had a lazy river
and geysers popping up everywhere
Every Saturday night these baths host
a Sparty. A DJ comes in and they light the
whole place up and have a party all night long!
We were hoping to be able to stay for the party
but it was a separate entrance fee and we
had only brought enough hungarian money
to pay to get in once. But we at least got to
see them setting up for it.
Getting back home was a breeze compared to
the adventure we had to go on to get there. All
the subway stops had been reopened so we were
able to get back to the hotel without any problems.
One thing that I loved about Budapest
is that it is a very lively city. There are always
tons of things going on and people everywhere out
to enjoy the city and have a good time.
After changing out of our swim attire,
we met up with my dad and headed over to
take a ride on the Budapest eye to get some
great views of the city at night!
What a fun day you had! That gelato was amazing!
ReplyDeleteVery cool gelato - and very cool hat on Dad. Haha! I'm glad you were able to make it to the baths.
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