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Budapest's most exclusive neighbourhood lies beyond smog-ridden Margit korut and the backstreets off Moszkva ter. If you're coming from Bem ter, consider a preliminary detour to the rather over-restored tomb of Gul Baba on Mecset utca, just above Margit korut (May-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; 300Ft). This small octagonal building is a shrine to the "Father of the Roses", a Sufi Dervish who participated in the Turkish capture of Buda but died during the thanksgiving service afterwards. Restored in the late 1980s with funds from the Turkish government, the tomb now stands in a pristine little park with marble fountains and arabesque tiles. Carpets and examples of calligraphy adorn the shrine, which fittingly stands in a rose garden, surrounded by a colonnaded parapet with fine views. The Rozsadomb (Rose Hill) itself is as much a social category as a neighbourhood, for a list of residents would read like a Hungarian Who's Who . During the Communist era this included the top Party funcionarusok , whose homes featured secret exits that enabled several AVO chiefs to escape lynching during the Uprising. Nowadays, wealthy film directors and entrepreneurs predominate, and the sloping streets are lined with spacious villas and flashy cars. Heading downhill to the riverbank just north of the Margit hid, you can find the Neoclassical Lukacs Baths , harbouring a thermal pool (men: Tues, Thurs, Sat & Sun 6.30am-8pm; women: Mon, Wed & Fri same hours; 800Ft) and a small mixed swimming pool (Mon-Sat 6am-7pm, Sun 6am-5pm; 800Ft). To reach the baths you pass through a ticket hall that wouldn't look amiss in a mansion, and a courtyard lined with plaques of gratitude in different languages from those who have benefited from the medicinal waters. The adjacent Csaszar Komjadi Pool has a Turkish bath-hall dating from the sixteenth century and still in use, plus an excellent modern outdoor swimming pool (covered in winter) (Mon-Sat 6am-9pm, Sun 6am-7pm; bath 500Ft, pool 500Ft; hats compulsory in the pool). The entrances to both establishments are on the embankment side.
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