Budapest II: Turkish Baths & Ballet

I had a late start this morning for the sole purpose how good my three-inch, scratchy hostel bed felt. No lie; I kept snoozing for what must've been two hours. Anyway, today I planned on staying on the Buda side for the entire day. I walked over to Castle Hill (itself an hour's task) and reclimbed the winding trails and staircases that we'd done yesterday on our walking tour. Once at the top, though, I had free rein to explore and take pictures on my own. None of the museums in the former royal palace were rated that highly by Frommer's, so I just walked around and took pictures in the palace complex. The real attraction on Castle Hill is the St. Matthias Church, this ancient little cathedral nestled in the medieval neighborhood atop Castle Hill. It's particularly renowned for its bright porcelain tile roof; it's geometric patterns have inspired similar roofs all over Budapest and beyond. Built centuries and centuries ago, it was the royal church used for coronations until Buda fell to the Turks in 1541 and it became a mosque until the Christians recaptured the city in 1686. The church was repainted on the inside with a bunch of great paintings depicting the Ottoman wars, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There's also a statue of the Virgin and Child in one of the chapels that has an interesting story behind it: after the conquest in 1541, the Muslims bricked up a wall in front of the statue during their modifications of the church to outfit it as a mosque. Over a hundred years later, as the Muslims defended Castle Hill from the Holy Alliance besieging it, a cannon impact so shook the church that the wall in front of the Virgin statue crumbling, revealing to the Muslim defenders a fantastic Christian statue that they interpreted as a miracle. Thinking the Christians had divine favor for their conquest, the Muslims panicked and abandoned their defenses, letting the Christians win a decisive victory and retake the city.

I digress with historical anecdotes once again. After taking my time exploring the Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion outside (a decorative castle ramparts and towers that are more decorative than they are defensive), I went to a little cafe overlooking the Danube and Pest. I got a sweet menu of the day deal where, for like 18 bucks, I was able to get goulash soup, a paprika-drenched chicken breast, and strudel. The goulash and the chicken were both excellent Hungarian dishes. Post-lunch, I wandered down from Castle Hill and made my way south along the Danube (still on the Buda side) toward the Turkish Rudash baths.

Talk about a cultural experience. These baths are the second-oldest in Budapest, built by the Turks in the 1500s. As so, they are still very Turkish in their operations; bathing suits are not permitted and the sexes are strictly separated by days of the week. I checked in and they gave me a magnetic wristwatch, in order to access my locker, and a loincloth. Nice. I got changed, per se, (more like undressed) and made my way to the thermal baths. They were inside this big octagonal room with Roman vaults and a big dome in the center. In the same fashion as the 10th century caliphal baths I saw in Cordoba, the domed roof had rings of holes cut into the rock; holes shaped like stars of David (ironic) and covered with a colored stained glass. The result was this great selection of vibrant colors radiating down onto the pools. There was one big octagonal pool in the center and then smaller ones, all varying in temperature, in the corners. They went in order of 28, 30, 33, and 42 degrees Celsius. The big one in the center was probably somewhere in the 37 range. I had no idea, though, until I would actually get into one and then I'd see the tiny plaque with the temperature reading. The entire time, I was trying to pretend like I knew what I was doing, so when I got into a bath that was piping hot I had to mask my agony and pretend that that's what I wanted the entire time. Same thing when I'd then walk into an ice-cold bath and nearly scream. I knew from the caliphal baths in Cordoba that the order you're supposed to go in is from cold to hot, so once I figured out which baths were which I tried to do it as the Turks - and now Hungarians - do it. It just took a lot of patient observation of who went from what pool to what. It was a little bit weird, trying to keep tabs of all the old fat naked Hungarian men, but I was convinced I was going to learn the system! In side rooms, there were also hot rooms of various temperatures and steam rooms with different temperatures and aromas. When you came out of one of the hot rooms (usually they were very, very hot like 70 Celsius) you would walk into one of the shower stalls and pull this rope, tipping over a bucket of frigid water on you and scaring the hell out of your body. I think I almost went into shock a couple of times switching temperature like that, but it's what you're supposed to do! The whole essence of the baths is to get out your impurities and find relaxation. I didn't find relaxation going from icy to piping hot, although I did thoroughly enjoy floating in the pools of more moderate temperatures.

After a while, it was time for my massage that I'd ordered when I checked in. It was not so much of a massage like I would be used to as a muscle workdown. The guy said that I would feel better tomorrow, but it was going to hurt today. Haha. I spent 30 minutes getting my muscles pounded in by this guy's elbow, and then I went back for another hour of the bath circuit. By the time that I got showered, changed, and walked out the door I'd spent close to 3 hours there. Best $34 I've ever spent though! Walking out onto the bridge and crossing the Danube, the brisk wind just felt really good. I think that the impurity-ridding aspect really took place because I felt thoroughly re-energized. I had just enough time when I got back to the hostel to change into theatre clothes and head out through the Jewish quarter to Andrassy Boulevard and the Hungarian Royal Opera House.

I'd bought tickets the day before for Giselle, a French ballet being performed at the Opera house. I'd never been to a ballet before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Having searched on the internet for the plot, however, I was informed as to what was going on since I couldn't read the Hungarian program. I was up in the third deck, in the cheap seats, but I rented a pair of binoculars (which I could've just as easily done without) and posted up there in the third row. I had a perfect view of the right half of the orchestra pit and was able to see the entire stage, which is more than most people with side boxes can. I ended up really really liking it, however. There's no language barrier when there's no language! Plus the dancers were really talented. Made for a very pleasant evening. Got a kebab on the way back to the hostel and then turned on Gladiator with a few people. As sleepy as I was after those relaxing baths and the opera, I can never say no to that movie. Overall great day!