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We woke up and had an early lunch before heading over to the baths. It was very cloudy out in the morning and we were hoping it was going to clear up, as yesterday was such a beautiful day! We ate at the same pub (John Bull Pub) near our hotel that we'd had dinner at last night, as it was so delicious. After another great meal, we walked across the small bridge over to the thermal baths. These baths were recently renovated in 2003. The facility included many pools (some normal pool temp and some a little warmer), sauna and steam rooms, 3 water slides, and lots of room for lounging around in the sun. We paid for a full day's entry ($8pp) and had to rent 2 towels for about $1.25 each since we don't have any beach towels. After locating 2 chairs, we settled into a few hours of sun, reading, and sporadically jumping in the pools or riding the slides!
Food: From our very first meal, we really enjoyed the Hungarian food that we had. There is always a wide variety of food to choose from and most places have a vegetarian section or at least a lot of soups, salads, and lots of cheese. This is the first country that we've seen turkey on the menu. Hungarians love to use paprika to spice things up a little bit - a nice change from some of the more bland foods we've had lately. Wine of Choice: Bikaver "Bulls Blood" Memories: not being sure how to go about wine tasting in Eger, discovering a glass of wine is only 50 cents and 2 liters only $4!, getting wine in a plastic bottle or small plastic barrel, relaxing at the pool in Eger, fire works in the middle of the night in Eger, the american auto/rock show all night long in Eger, climbing Gellert Hill in Budapest, hunting down Mexican, Indian and falafel restaurants in Budapest, walking around Castle Hill, views of the Parliament and the Danube River, scary evil lions on the Chain Bridge, Sting concert, hanging out in Gyor, going to the thermal baths.
Economy: As Hungary moved from communism to a capitalistic free market, it stumbled through many challenges. By 1994, their budget deficit was 10% of their GDP. In 1995, aggressive privatization of state-owned business, focus and incentives to increase exports, and a reduced public spending lead the country to recover from its shortfalls. Hungary paid back their IMF loans, and in 2004, joined the EU. The country is currently experiencing 4% growth rates, with over half of their GDP from serices, 1/3 industry, and just 3% from agriculture. However, since May 5, their stock market has dropped over 20% due to global investors pulling out. While we in Hungary, Hungary was down-graded by Standard and Poor due to Hungary's budget plan woes (increased taxes to pay for increased public spending by the government). We saw the value of their money drop by 5% in just 3 days, and another 5% in the last 6 months. Tough economic times ahead for Hungary, but given their history, and being part of the EU, we suspect a recovery sooner than later.
Exchange Rate: 1 US dollar = 224 Forint (see economy though) Safety Rating:
9.5 out of 10 for Eger - Eger is a wonderful place to come and sample some of the best wines Hungary has to offer. You can make yourself at home at the wine cellars and enjoy a glass of wine at their picnic tables. It was a great place for us to relax for a few days. 9 out of 10 for Budapest - One of the more interesting cities we've been to. It's fun just to walk around Budapest, enjoying the sights and sounds. It helps that we felt completely safe there too. 9 out of 10 for Gyor - Come to Gyor and you can experience life with the locals. I don't think we saw any other tourists the entire time we were there! It's a beautiful small town that you can walk across in about 5-10 minutes. Day 178 - Gyor < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 180 - Prague © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
Our objective for today was to experience the Hungarian thermal baths that everyone keeps talking about. We've seen baths all over the place and even this small city of Gyor has their own. These "baths" are really just a lot of different temperature pools that are made up of mineral water. We're not really sure where this mineral water comes from, but its not like it's coming out of the ground into the pool or anything. 
The day went by so fast, we didn't even realize it was after 5pm when we left. We got showered up and went back out for dinner at another nearby pub called Captain Drake's Pub. This time we both had pasta. It was OK but nothing special. Afterwards, we wandered over to the riverfront where the town was kicking off their annual month-long summer festival tonight! While it was fun to take part in this festival with the locals, we're a little worried about how late into the night these bands are going to play since they're pretty much right outside our hotel. We got some popcorn and sat on the grass by the river listening to one of the bands. One thing we noticed is that they like their music EXTRA loud here - everyone in this town must be going deaf! At 8pm, they had a air show with a stunt flyer who twirled, looped, spun, flew inverted, and dropped at insane angles towards the crowd on the river front. It was definitely some of the best stunt flying we've seen, and extremely close to the ground too. We read later on the web that this guy has actually won some world championships for stunt flying. They also had 5 guys who jumped out of another place and parachuted down, landing in the river right in front of everyone! Kind of crazy, but amusing. 
After that, another band started up. It wasn't that exciting, since they're singing in Hungarian and songs we've never heard of. We opted to go back to the hotel and will "enjoy" the music from there. At 10pm, they had a huge fireworks show that we could just right outside our window. We both agreed it was one of the best fireworks displays ever, with lots of really unique ones. Today ended a long stretch of days in Hungary, as we'll be heading into the Czech Republic tomorrow morning. It feels like we're been in Hungary a long time, even though its really only been a little over a week. Our time here has been great though, and it will have to go near the top of our list of places we've visited. 
Final thoughts on Hungary:
People: Hungary has come a long way since the revolt against communism back in 1956. We'd consider Hungary today to be a part of Western Europe. Traveling here was so much easier than Romania and Bulgaria! Most people speak some English and are happy to help you out. We even had one lady wait with us at the end of the train car to make sure we got off at the right stop! 
Climate (June): Hot and sunny. We had the most perfect weather here! A little hot, but it's hard to complain about it after our cold days in Bulgaria and Romania. 
Recommendation to friends: 