Loincloths and Tenderizing at a Budapest Spa

The Gellert Hotel Spa is renowned as the ultimate spa destination in Hungary. Here’s a first hand account of the Gellert experience.

Gellert Hotel Spa

While in Budapest, everyone kept saying I hadn’t experience Hungary until I had a spa. According to my newfound friends, “a spa” meant the Gellert Hotel Spa.

Being a macho American male, I dragged an American girl I met on the train with me to the spa. The purported purpose, of course, was chivalry and introducing her to an experience she would never forget. After paying $2 each, my bluff was called. Women and men were separated for the treatments. I was alone and didn’t speak a word of the language!

Once separated, I was sent into a large room with what appeared to be a few hundred dressing rooms. An attendant looked up from a desk, said something in Hungarian, slapped a piece of cloth in my hand and pointed to a dressing room. [Read more]

Art Museums of Budapest

Along with a rich history, Budapest also is known for its rich art culture. The art culture of Budapest developed over several hundreds of years. They have been influenced by the Romans and the Turks. At one point, Budapest was considered a sister city to Vienna and their art rivaled theirs as well. There are numerous art museums throughout the city and so many that we will not be able to list them all.

Ferenc Hopp Museum of East Asian Art is a private collection of Hopp's works. The works were brought together in the 19 th century. The collection contained four thousand pieces at one point. Ferenc Hopp was known as a world-traveling businessman and his works now number at over nineteen thousand. [Read more]