Rudas Baths - wrecked

Rudas Baths - wrecked

An Article Submitted to Various Travel Mags.

A few weekends ago I went to Budapest to sample the famous 450 year old turkish baths. There are three main ones - Rudas, Rac and Kiraly. (Sorry for the lack of accented Hungarian spellings). As might be well known Hungary has recently joined the European Community and is now spending vast sums of Euros to upgrade its tourist facilities. Unfortunately this has meant that the atmospheric turkish baths - unchanged for centuries, and still with the patina of use by thousands of customers over the centuries - are now being gutted and modernised.

Certainly the Rac Baths - the only building left in the now demolished Jewish quarter by the Castle - has now been so gutted that is now resembles a bombed out shell. Gone are the baths, the steam rooms, the dry heat rooms, and everything else. The only thing that now circulates the windowless shell is the cold damp air blowing up from the frozen Danube. The Baths will now be turned into yet another clinical and sanitised 'spa' devoid of all ancient turkish history.

Unfortunately the Rudas Baths have already been given this treatment over the last two years. I was there on the opening weekend. We queued for about 20 minutes - this was a popular opening. There were three security guards at the turnstyles. There was another outside. Security guards at a turkish baths?!!! The cashier couldn't understand my request in English for admission for swimming (in the 18'th baths) and to the turkish baths. It seems that modernising for the tourists does not mean learning English (or even having any signs in English). Eventually I was sold a credit card size plastic security pass, and was grudgingly allowed to pass through the first turnstyle by a gruff looking security person. I was then directed to the turkish baths (what remained of them). There another turnstyle had to be negotiated. No towels or sheets were offered - luckily I'd brought my own. The changing rooms were all modernised cubicles just like any swimming pool. The cubicle staff were as aggressive as usual. Each cubical door was locked from the inside by using the plastic card. This released a key from the outside to be kept tied to one's swimming costume. Ah - yes - swimming costumes were mandatory - everything was co-ed now. The ancient turkish bath part that used to be for men only is now for families including screaming kids. Then I entered the turkish baths proper - and horror of horrors - the whole building had been gutted and rebuilt with garish red marble!! NOTHING remains of the original 450 year old baths except for the roof. EVERYTHING was brand spanking new. And GONE was the etheral and steamy atmosphere that had endured for so many centuries. Even the drinking fountains (taps) had been replaced by electronic proximity devices to turn the water on and off. Needless to say in the humid atmosphere these failed to work properly. The four pools of varying temperatures around the main pool had also received the dreaded red marble treatment. And believe me the newly cut marble edges were SHARP. Everything was bathed in bright light, and the coloured glass openings in the old domed roof had been removed. The dry heat rooms were tiny and now boasted plastic doors that didn't close properly. The steam rooms had been removed. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT. Obviously this is how the Rac Baths were going to end up. But worse was to come. I wanted to get something to eat and drink - but nothing was available. To visit the Cafeteria I had to pass through the second turnstyle, and to do that I had to surrender the credit card pass. And - no - I couldn't re-enter the baths. Feeling VERY upset I then decided to visit the 18'th c. smimming baths. But despite having paid for this with my credit card pass I was not allowed in. What an rip-off.

I hear that the Gellert Hotel - dating from the late 1800s/early 1900s has also just had a refurbishment - so I hope that they haven't also gone for the red marble treatment too.

Luckily the Kiraly Turkish Baths nearby have yet to be refurbished. So do visit them before they too get a makeover for the tourists from the EEC.

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