Turkish spa day

We checked out of Family Home this morning on account of my blunder. We spent the morning trying to dry laundry as quickly as possible but Europe hates clothes dryers. The glass doors lead to the room the girls shared.

Down the hall towards our room at the front of the house. 1st door - tiny kitchen. 

2nd door - tiny toilet room. 

3rd door - tiny shower, bathroom sink, washing machine room. 

And finally our bedroom facing the street. 

We had a controller for the car gate, so I stayed inside while Matt pulled the car out, then Adi ran the car gate back in to me and we left together. So I spied them out the girls bedroom window and Matt sniped me. 

We stopped at a Spar for freshly baked warm pastries and lady products. 🫤 Then on to Rudas Spa!

There are several Turkish Spas in Budapest so I did my research and picked Rudas. There are more well known spas, but the rooftop tub sold me, and it was my favorite part of the day! We grabbed lunch around 2:00 and went to our locker for some clothes and Frankie grabbed her phone, since other people had theirs out. I understood no phones were allowed, but there was no enforcement of that rule. 🤷‍♀️ The Bistro couldn’t seat our group, so we grabbed quick service downstairs and the bartender guy sold us on “very healthy, very delicious soft drinks! Very good for your girls!” There was beet juice, grape juice, carrot juice, and apple mango juice. I told home to mix us up something delicious and it was so gross. 🤢 Then he upsold us to get 2. 🤢🤢 it tasted like beets, and I like beets, but not in purple liquid form. Matt didn’t really want to get our delicious and nutritious soft drinks, so I knew I couldn’t leave it for just him. Thankfully Adi and Frankie liked the sound of healthy and drank one, and I powered through most of the other and then Matt was like, well I hardly got any, so I left the rest for him. Don’t be fooled like I was, beet juice = 🤢

My favorite! The best was when you could find a spot at the edge and look at the Danube and the boats going by. It was the coolest thing. 

It was a warm day, 64° and the water was warm so it was very pleasant up there. We went up 3 times. 

Haha. They have men only bathing hours every day, and women only bathing hours once a week. 🙄 There were more men there than women though, I’ll give them that much. 

More to Rudas Spa to come. 

We left there at 5, after 6 luxurious hours of soaking and headed down to the 24th district in southeast Budapest. We’re way out here. It’s what I could find in our price range, with free parking and a washing machine, with zero notice. It’s a cute little place. The landlord came and opened the gate for us and showed us around (his family lives right upstairs) and recommended La Guna Pizzeria for authentic Hungarian dishes and it was chefs kiss delicious. Matt and I shared a goulash soup and then I got chicken stuffed with cheese and peaches and then a creamy blueberry sauce and it was amazing. I made a note to make this when we get home. 

Everyone enjoyed their food and even though they wouldn’t let us drink the water we brought and made us buy water, we’d recommend it hands down. It’s only a 5 minute walk from our Airbnb so super convienent too.

I didn’t take pics at the spa, but want to remember everything about it. This was the Turkish bath part. The ceiling was full of these colorful lights and floating in the center of the pool looking up at them was the coolest. 

 Big, warm pool in the middle, with 4 smaller pools in each corner. One coolish 28° C, 2 that were 33°C, and one very hot 42°C. Then there are also steam rooms down there. We went into one and I couldn’t quite manage my breathing, so I stepped out and got it under control and then went back in and was fine. Loved it! After that suana they’ve got showers and one of them has a cold bucket that you pull to get splashed with ice cold water, so Matt did that but I opted for the 28° pool instead. 

Another view of up top (all pics from their website). 

They also have a beautiful lap pool that we don’t go in because it requires swim caps and then several wellness pools. Adi asked us to do a contrast bath with her. First you soak in the hot hot tub - 42°C for 1 minute. Then you soak in a cold bath 11°C for 10 seconds. I repeated that 3 times, twice with Adi and once with Delaney. Mind over matter!

We also tried the salt room that I loved. They had chairs inside and it was just warm, not hot. If you breathed through your mouth, you could faintly taste salt on your tongue. It was so relaxing I fell asleep do a hot minute. And we tried a 60°-70°C dry sauna that was 1000 times easier for me then the steam sauna. 

It was all so lovely and the perfect break from our long long long walking days. We loved it and would 1000% recommend. 

This little Airbnb is cute and perfect for one night. I did a load of wash as soon as we left got here and have our last European load in right now. View from the front door. 

Our room right up front. 

Girls room right next to ours. 

View from the girls room to the front door. 

Not pictured - the occupied bathroom/washing machine room. 

We kind of can’t believe it’s Friday and we leave on Monday. It’s gone by really fast and has been so amazing.