Monday, August 11, 2014

St. Stephen's Church and The Szchenyi Baths


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 reliquaryThis 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!






2 comments:

  1. What a fun day you had! That gelato was amazing!

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  2. Very 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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