Aug

Watery Wanderlust: The City of Spas

by Meredith Mullins on August 26, 2019

The power of water
© Meredith Mullins

Going with the Flow in the Thermal Baths of Budapest

It’s summer. And in the hot Northern Hemisphere, our thoughts turn to the cooling force of water. Beaches. Rivers. Swimming pools. Waterfalls. Fountains. We travel in search of comfort.

Water wanderlust can lead us to many destinations, but none more water themed than Budapest—the “City of Spas.”

Budapest is famous for its parliament building . . . but also for its thermal baths.
© Meredith Mullins

There is much to see in Budapest, including

the Neo-Gothic Hungarian parliament building,
the elegant State Opera House,
the exotic beauty of the Matthias Church,
the vistas of the Fisherman’s Bastion,
the ornate St Stephen’s Basilica, and
the lively Great Market Hall (a covered market designed by Gustave Eiffel).

If you’re not spending all your time relaxing in a spa, the Great Market Hall offers
characters, chaos, and color.
© Meredith Mulins

However, throughout this city rich in history, it is easy to see that water holds a place of honor. Oh, I see. For Hungarians (and visitors to Hungary), water is a constant presence. It is sport, medicine, exercise, relaxation, transportation, and fun. It is a life force.

Water: summer fun
© Meredith Mullins

The Danube River is a central artery, running through the city and dividing the old city of Buda on the west side from the newer, more modern eastern side, known as Pest.

The city is also home to a variety of thermal baths, many showcasing past eras of history, from Ottoman influence to Art Nouveau.

At any given time, whether a hot summer afternoon or a cold gray winter morning, water-loving Hungarians and Budapest visitors are immersed — either swimming in cool pools, relaxing muscles and bones in warm water, or soaking in the medicinal baths fed by the city’s more than 100 thermal hot springs.

Water immersion
© Meredith Mullins

Time for Research

What better way to conduct water wanderlust research than to swim and soak in Budapest’s offerings. It’s a tough job, but someone has to rise to the challenge. So, I made several trips to Budapest, in all seasons, to see what the attraction was.

At the end of several soaking/swimming/floating experiences, my vote for favorite bathing setting is a tie between the Gellért Baths and the Széchenyi Medicinal Bath.

Floating in another era
© Meredith Mullins

Another Era: Gellért Baths

The Gellert Baths are located in the Art Nouveau Hotel Gellért, built in the early 1900s on the Buda side of the river. As you walk in, you feel you are entering a time warp or a movie set from another era.

Carved columns and colorful tiles make for an elegant pool setting.
© Meredith Mullins

The main pool is palatial, with carved roman columns, marble sculptures, and mosaic tiles. The various thermal baths are fed by the mineral springs of Gellért Hill, said to be helpful for joint problems, disk issues, and circulatory trouble.

The complex offers 10 indoor pools and 3 outdoor pools, including plunge pools, and a pool that generates artificial waves.

An aquarium of human activity
© Meredith Mullins

In one of the underground passageways, the swimmers become entertainment, like aquatic specimens of the deep, through small aquarium-like windows.

When you leave Gellért after a day of water, you will most likely feel like a wet noodle, have super flexible joints, and smell of minerals.

A moment of quiet at the indoor thermal pool
© Meredith Mullins

Checkmate: Széchenyi Bath

The Széchenyi Bath is the largest medicinal bath in Europe, with water supplied by two thermal springs. The 15 indoor pools and 3 outdoor pools are housed in a palace complex in Budapest’s City Park.

The thermal water is said to be high in calcium, magnesium, and hydrogen carbonate, all believed to be good for joint pain and arthritis.

Relaxing with a game of chess
© Meredith Mullins

I love watching people here enjoying all forms of water—from relaxing in warm outdoor pools throughout the year while playing chess to being pounded by spraying jets to get the blood flowing. Although Széchenyi can sometimes feel like the Grand Central Station of pools, the people-watching aspect of a visit is a never-ending source of entertainment.

The Széchenyi Thermal Baths
© Meredith Mullins

And, if you stay into the night, the latest craze is “sparties” (spa parties)— with DJs, films, and laser shows throughout the summer.

The Ottoman Spas

Also in the running for interesting spas were the Rudas, Kiraly, and Veli Bej baths. All of these venues are reminiscent of Ottoman rule, with darkened interiors under domes dotted with tiny holes for streaming light. A wonderful, mysterious ambiance where you can lose yourself in time.

Losing yourself in time and space
© Meredith Mullins

Finding Fürdő

To enjoy this life of water wanderlust in Budapest, all you need is a swimsuit, some flip flops, a towel, and the word fürdő on the tip of your tongue— the Hungarian word for bath or spa.

And no matter what your ultimate goal for your time in the thermal baths, I can almost guarantee that you will feel better for having been a part of the Hungarian water culture. I know I did.

Keeping fürdő at the tip of your tongue
© Meredith Mullins

Gellért Baths at H-1118 Budapest, Kelenhegyi út 4.

Széchenyi Baths at 9-11 Allatkerti korut Street, Budapest, District 14

Rudas Baths at Rudas Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda, H-1013 Budapest, Döbrentei tér 9.

Kiraly Baths at 38 Nepfurdo Street Budapest, H-1138

Veli Bej Baths at 1023 Budapest Frankel Leó u. 35.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins Comments

Art of Travel/Hungary

Aug

Quick! Trap a Travel Memory

by Joyce McGreevy on August 6, 2019

Travel journals are also travel keespakes that evoke your precious travel memories—the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Travel memories speak volumes. But you needn’t compile volumes to keep them.
© Joyce McGreevy

How to Keep on Keeping Travel Keepsakes—and Still Enjoy the Trip

Keeping a travel journal is something that some people enjoy doing and some people wish they enjoyed doing. If you’re in the latter group, you probably own one or more beautifully bound journals, the sight of which filled you with travel inspiration—initially.

Then came the journey, and despite your best intentions to create a travel keepsake, your journal sputtered to a stop. Why? It’s often about how we view the travel journal—that most non-stationary of stationery objects—before and during a journey.

In the anticipatory period before departure, the blank pages of a journal are an invitation to adventure and a promise of keen observations. There will be aha moments! There will be rich descriptions!

A toy dog, a travel mascot, “writes” in his travel journals to create travel keepsakes that evoke the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Even the most dogged travel journalist needs time to savor the joys of the journey.
© Joyce McGreevy

But during the journey, something shifts, and you can’t keep up with keeping a journal:

The little book that seemed so charming has become a chore master. It silently berates you from the hotel nightstand for “failing” to provide a daily, in-depth account of your travels.
Or you really, truly want to record a specific travel experience—only to discover that you’re contending with clichés, grappling with grammar, or hating your handwriting. In short, you had more fun filing your taxes.

Are there easier options?

Yes, thanks to quick ‘n easy travel keepsakes that “journal” the journey as you go. Yes, you can capture a sense of place without mastering plein air painting, and you can bring home meaningful souvenirs without impacting your FICO score.

Oh, I see: The ideal travel keepsake is one that happens on the go and adds to the joy of the journey. Here are some ideas:

1. Scale back.

Did sketching the view from the Eiffel Tower prove a tad challenging? Consider making “postage stamp” art instead. In that journal you’re carrying around, divide a page for the day into small squares about an inch wide. Draw a quick sketch or trap a word that reminds you of the place or person or the feeling you had in the travel moment. These one-inch square sketches focus on a single set of the details of the day as you live them. Add the date and your location, and you have a travel keepsake that didn’t keep you from your travels.

Tiny quick-sketches in a travel journal reflect a quick and easy way to capture travel memories. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Don’t love every quick-sketch? Make a “patchwork” page of your favorites.
© Joyce McGreevy

2. Make audio postcards.

In one of the most poetic scenes of the Academy Award-winning film “Il Postino,” a postman records sounds of his village that inspire him. A quick tap of your cellphone’s voice recorder is all it takes to collect audio “postcards” of your own: a muezzin’s call to prayer in Istanbul, street music in Berlin, a lion’s roar in Botswana. Voice-recorder apps automatically tag the date and location, so just add a personal note, and send or save your audio postcard.

A bell tower in Bruges and a river in the Tongariro Forest, New Zealand suggest how audio recordings can capture travel memories. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

From bells in Bruges to a river in Tongariro, sounds enhance travel memories.
© Joyce McGreevy

3. Save what you savor.

When you’re enjoying a travel moment, squirrel away a reminder. Maybe it’s a menu from a restaurant with a few tasting notes in the margins. It could also be a map section, a business card, a shopping bag, or a food label. Back at home, remember the tastes of your trip as you make a culinary collage for your kitchen. Or, along the way, spill out your treasures onto a flat surface, arrange them in an interesting way, and create a digital collage (no glue stick required!). Then:

Snap a photo of your collage.
Re-use or recycle the paper.
Voila!—a portable keepsake minus the baggage.

A digital travel collage is a clever way to trap memories and create travel keepsakes that evoke the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The digital-only collage lets you “keep” items that won’t fit in your suitcase.
© Joyce McGreevy

4. Love it? List it.

Those moments at the end of a travel day are the perfect time to sum up the day in less than 3 minutes. Keep it light and breezy. Invite your travel companions to join in, if you’d like, and collect:

an “Oh, I see” moment: Sunflowers turn their faces away from the sun!
people you’re glad you met and why: Annamieke translated the Flemish menu.
a phrase that sums up the day’s adventures or mishaps: Good thing we took the “wrong” train!
new foods you ate: brunost (Norwegian brown cheese); simit (Turkish bagel)
new words you learned: Blagodarya! (“Thank you!” Bulgaria); Comme c’est beau! (“How beautiful!” France)

Norwegian waffles with cheese, noted in a list of travel memories, become a travel keepsake that evokes the joys of the journey. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

At home, use your list to recall details: Norwegian vafler med brunost were
surprisingly nydelig (delicious). The cheese reminded me of caramel!
© Joyce McGreevy

Keep Keepsakes Simple, for Keep’s Sake!

You don’t have to be crafty or write volumes to create travel keepsakes. Just let your observations and experiences be your guide. Each time you write, draw, list, or photograph to collect a travel keepsake, you’re preserving a precious travel memory that evokes the joys of the journey.

Find out more! Consult our curated and creative list of easy-to-use apps that help you gather audio, photographic, and print keepsakes in one place and build on them from there. Also find our round-up of the best online sites, books, and classes for creating, organizing, and displaying your travel keepsakes after you’re home. Download the free PDF:

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here

Joyce McGreevy Comments

Art of Travel/Clever Ideas/Worldwide Sites

Jul

Summer Like a Local

by Joyce McGreevy on July 8, 2019

Public street art on Rue St-Famille, Montréal reflects the everyday pleasure of exploring the urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Wandering leads to discovery in Montréal. Murals enliven every neighborhood.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Widespread Pleasures of Montréal’s Urban Culture

No wonder jazz is a top attraction for visitors to Montréal. The largest city in eastern Canada doesn’t just reflect urban culture, it riffs on it, reinterpreting it in endless variations.

Since visiting Montréal as a child, I’ve returned numerous times, always encountering new layers to its creative nature.

Most first-time visitors stay within a compact area around the Vieux-Port (Old Port), where cobblestone streets and picturesque buildings date to the 17th century. Charming though it is, visiting in peak season can give the impression that all 10 million annual visitors have shown up at once.

That’s why I encourage you to explore beyond the core. Oh, I see: Montréal’s summertime pleasures are generously sprinkled all over the city.

A zip line and Ferris wheel in Montréal suggest that slowing down and broadening your focus are additional ways to explore the urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Here are five ways to celebrate Montréal’s urban culture. Eco-friendly, art-loving, and community-minded, they’ll make you feel right at home.

1. Do your reading in the park.

In many cities, cooling off on a summer’s day means cranking up the A/C. Montréalers keep cool by heading to the nearest green space. With 19 major parks and over 1,300 green squares, you won’t need a map to find one.

A park in Montréal reflects the everyday pleasure of exploring the urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Montréalers’ love of green spaces was formalized in 1874 when Mount Royal became the first protected area in Québec. The design gig for Parc Mont-Royal went to Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed the grounds of New York’s Central Park.

Now Montréal’s green space is on the verge of another growth spurt. Over the next three years, the city will build its largest park yet—four times the size of Parc Mont-Royal—on the urban island’s western tip.

A woman walking and a corner grocery reflect the everyday pleasures of exploring Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

2. Hop to the shop, car-free.

With a dépanneur on virtually every block, shopping for food on foot is easy. Come spring, Montréal’s oldest public markets take off their “winter coats.” Down come the walls that shelter shoppers from 82 inches of annual snowfall.

The Marché Jean-Talon suggests the everyday pleasure of shopping for Québécois products and exploring Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Which market should you choose, Marché Jean-Talon or Atwater Market? Both—and don’t overlook Marché Maisonneuve:

Atwater Market: The tall clock tower makes it a cinch for newcomers to find, and you can work off that maple sugar pie with a run along the Lachine Canal.
Marché Maisonneuve: Test your French fluency, marvel at the 1910 Beaux-Arts building that started it all, and test-ride a self-driving shuttle to Montréal’s Olympic Stadium.
Marché Jean-Talon: Explore the neighborhood known locally as Petite-Italie.

An Italian café in Petite-Italie reflects the everyday pleasure of exploring Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Don’t make a list. Just wander among artful displays of Québécois produce, charcuterie, wheels of cheese, fresh oysters from the Bay of Gaspé, handmade ices, fresh flowers, herbs, and more.

3. Meet the neighbors.

Whatever your language, it’s easy to meet the neighbors in Montréal. I’ve enjoyed conversations in cafés, bookstores, the Segal Center Theatre, a local swimming pool, and while sitting on the curb of Rue St-Denis waiting for a parade to begin.

Even a short stroll can lead to memorable meet-and-greets. Last Saturday I went out for a newspaper. Two blocks later, I was dancing at a neighborhood barbecue. As for Sunday, I’m unlikely to forget meeting Antoine:

Circus artist Antoine Carabinier shows his sense of humor, another reminder of the fun of exploring Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Better known for balancing on the Russian bar in his family’s Cirque Alfonse,
Antoine Carabinier makes a genial barmaid at a Montréal street festival.
© Joyce McGreevy

4. Join the circus.

Every year, visitors flock to Montréal’s Jazz Festival, Cirque du Soleil, the “Just for Laughs” Comedy Festival, and other hot-ticket events.

No ticket? No worries.

Montréal’s creativity spills onto neighborhood streets, spreads across parks, and splashes across walls. Every summer, the roving Repercussion Theatre makes Shakespeare-in-the-Park accessible to all. Murals have a festival of their own. Meanwhile, Montréal Complètement Cirque scatters magic all around the city.

A circus artist performs for an audience on the Rue Maisonneuve, embodying the festive side of Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

5. Debate a local hot topic.

Montréalers have strong opinions about which is better, Fairmount Bagel or St-Viateur Bagel. Thus, it behooves you to “research” both.

But don’t just grab and gobble. Savor the “hole” truth with a lesson from local baker Will Paquet. As my Toronto classmates agree, his bagel-baking class is enriched by culinary science, seeded with local tips, and leavened with humor.

Bagel baker Will Paquet describes an everyday culinary pleasure of Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

As Paquet guides us through the steps, we learn what makes Montréal bagels distinctive. Smaller and thinner than NY bagels, and with a faster transition between proofing and kneading, they are hand-rolled and poached in honey-water. Unlike NY bagels, they’re also flipped halfway through the baking.

Traditionally, Montréal bagels were baked in a wood-fired oven, but the city is phasing this out for environmental reasons. Even so, under Paquet’s tutelage the results are thrilling—a toothsome crunch followed by soul-transporting, soft-as-a-cloud sweetness.

Bagels in various stage of preparation evoke an everyday culinary pleasure of Montréal’s urban culture. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

To buy bagels like a local, says Paquet, order “Sesame, still warm,” consume your bagel within 30 minutes, and don’t bury it under a mound of sandwich fillers. In Montréal, the bagel itself is the star, not the stage.

Extend your urban boundaries

This 377-year old city embraces over two dozen neighborhoods, each with its own personality, flavors, and festivities. Factor in Canadian friendliness, convenient public transport, and a summer sun that stays up late, and you’ve got the perfect excuse to get neighborly with Montréal’s urban culture.

Learn more about Will Paquet’s bagel-making classes here.

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.