Night 10: Midnight Baths

After a relaxing evening in, cooking dinner and chatting with the other guests at our homey little hostel (and Rachel reading a few more chapters of her trashy novel), we finally motivated ourselves to get "out."

To be honest, when the rain started around 9pm, we began to talk ourselves out of our little evening adventure in favor of staying in and being cozy. It was too cold and wet to go gallavanting through Budapest!

But, we also knew it was our only night to experience the "night baths"- when one of the ancient bath houses (built on natural springs right on the shores of the Danube) was open all night. Seemed too cool of an opportunity to pass up.

So, Rachel and I put on our bathing suits (Clay was too tired to come, so it was a girl's night out), layered up in our fleeces and rain jackets, and set out to explore Budapest by night.





We caught one of the late buses and made our way to the baths...it was SO cool (not to mention the views of the river and the bridges at night were amazing). The ceilings and walls inside the baths were super old, but well maintained, with one huge bath (38-40 degrees C) in the middle, surrounded by four other baths ranging from 28 degrees C, to 42 degrees C (SUPER SUPER hot).

We made the rounds, gradually moving up in temperature until we were scalding and sweating in the hottest pool, only to jump in another COLD (no idea the temp, but so freezing I couldn't breathe and my entire body turned numb and pink) pool for 2 minutes before starting the warm bath rotation again.

It was fantastic. Rachel and I just soaked and talked and people watched (and people critiqued, because that is fun too) for 2.5 hours until we were complete prunes. We came out of the baths so relaxed and warm to the core that the cold night air didn't affect us at all.

For anyone travelling to Budapest, I highly recommend checking out the night baths- there is only one bath (Radas) that does it, one night a week on Saturdays, but it was super super cool. Unlike the daytime, the midnight baths are filled with young people, and not too crowded, so you can avoid the 70 year-old Hungarian guys in speedos. Highly HIGHLY recommended!! One of the coolest thing I've ever done.