budapest, day four: christmas!

Yesterday morning we walked over to a big park to see about visiting the Széchenyi baths. It was far too busy, so we wandered around instead, and let me tell you, this park had everything: old tennis courts with metal fences instead of nets; a weird castle-y building that mashed up Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architectural styles; grassy fields turned into mud flats by happy off-leash dogs; a zoo with a mosque inside; the biggest agricultural museum in Europe; busy playgrounds; a tent city mere meters from a crowded outdoor skating rink; and lots of construction projects. It was a weird space.

We took the tram back across the river to see the Tomb of Gül Baba; the interior was closed, but it was a peaceful place with interesting brick architecture and nice views of the city.

The Lukács baths were just around the corner and didn't seem too busy, so we decided to go in for a second day of soaking. The baths were inside a network of yellow buildings that looked like an old sanitarium, and were indeed built in the 1800s as a health spa where visitors could enjoy the wide-ranging medical benefits of its odorous hot springs. This place was busier and much more complicated than the previous day's, with a number of pools open only to medical patients, an outdoor pool featuring an extremely amusing whirlpool loop & various bubbling areas, and "Sauna World". We got lost more than once.

Most things in the rest of the city were closed, so we headed home early for a Christmas morning family video call and other lounging around.