Displaying items by tag: Turkish baths

My first encounter with a hot spring spa occurred four years ago when I was living in Budapest, Hungary – a city renowned for its numerous bathhouses. Two large outdoor pools lay before me, with slowly rising steam being the only indication that their water was anything but chilly. As I stepped into the warm spring, I could almost immediately distinguish who were regulars to the scene: groups of wrinkly women in bathing caps, chatting and arguing amongst each other; and older men hovered around chessboards that were built into the bath’s concrete floor. It was undoubtedly a different spectacle than the first introduction of baths to the city, but the atmosphere and purpose remain the same. Here is a place where locals come to chat, to heal, and to soak in the earth’s natural minerals.