Out in Budapest
Budapest has the friendliest people I've ever come across as a collective people in a city. They're so welcoming, open, and cheerful. I asked one of the local expats if anyone goes further east than this, as far as tourists go, and he said this is usually the last stop for most. You can kind of feel that, "put away in a back corner" feeling to the city. They seem content on how things are, and feel good about it.
We experienced the Széchenyibaden outdoor and indoor Bath the first day, and it was wonderful. Got there around 4:30ish, and the space has 15 indoor natural thermal pools that are medicinal, and good for joints. They have a large outdoor lap swim thermal pool, and an outdoor thermal pool for relaxing enjoying the views. The temperature was around 95-100 F, which felt perfect with the autumn air being around 55. One of the locals later let us know, he finds the old men that go there disgusting, so I don't know if that changed my mind on the idea or not...buuuuut it was fun.
Budapest does well to make you feel comfortable in any setting you walk in to. They have elegant cafes, lots of wine bars, ruin pubs, and nice quaint restaurants. They're very proud of their Hungarian wine, and they should be. We tried a local Pinot Noir that was dank, little funk, blackberry, and smooth on the finish. Ruin pubs are bars that utilize the space inbetween buildings as an extra patio. Some more eclectic than others, but each has a unique feel to it. We went to three of them to pop in for a couple beers. One was a taqueria ruin bar that threw the soccer game we were looking for up on the wall with a projector, one was a beer hall, and the other was something of a creative willy wonka space. This was the Szimpla ruin bar which had an old coupe car turned in to a table, 5 different bars surrounding the patio, with 6 more inside (including Hookah, wine, cocktails, beer), also utilitzed the side of the building as a projector and showed silent black and white films on it, which I find sexy as hell.
Super fun. Super affordable. A very relaxing spot on our traveling adventure.
