Széchenyi Thermal Bath & Jewish Quarter

Today we took the oldest metro in Europe, built in 1896, to Széchenyi Thermal Baths. It is one of the largest spa baths built in 1913. It was beautiful. The  Neo-baroque palace was specifically built for hosting medicinal baths. The Roman then Turkish occupiers built them for their natural mineral-rich qualities. The thermals were 21 C and it was 26 C today. We took the Metro back to our neighborhood for lunch. After a quick change, we walked around the corner to the Cat Cafe. They had lots of beautiful cats, but they were sleeping for the most part, so we carried on. We started our own self-guided tour of the Jewish Quarter. There were 440,000 Hungarian Jews deported to their deaths within 3 months in 1944. We saw the Great Synagogue, 2nd largest in the world and situated on the street that marked the Budapest Ghetto in WWII. The Tree of Life is a sculpture that commemorates 5000 Holocaust victims buried in the area and another that pays tribute to those who risked their lives trying to save the Jewish people. We visited the Rumback Street Synagogue and an Orthodox Synagogue (security was evident). While on Kazinczy Street, we found the Ruin Bars ( Budapest's ruin bars were born at the ti.e of the new millenium from the gentrified urban decay of the city's 7th district. These creative, eclectic and cobbled-together spaces quite literally hijack ruins – abandoned warehouses, empty parking lots, historic buildings – and call them home) and had a drink before taking a short rest back at the apartment. Our evening ended with drinks and eats on a rooftop bar overlooking the Danube and Buda side of the river. It was a beautiful evening with Tom & Shaun with spectacular views.Read more