St. Stephen's Church and The Szchenyi Baths

St. Stephen's Basilica is named after Saint Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary (c. 975–1038), whose incorruptible right hand is housed in the reliquary. This is the most important church building in Hungary, one of the most significant tourist attractions and the third highest building in Hungary.

Equal with the Hungarian Parliament Building, it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest at 315 ft - this equation symbolizes that worldly and spiritual thinking have the same importance in this city.  According to current regulations, no building can be taller then 315 ft.

After our visit to the Basilica 

we really needed to get some gelato.

We just happened upon the most charming 

gelato place right next to St. Stephen's,

they form your gelato into roses!

Then we walked back to the hotel

so Beth and I could change into 

our swimsuits and go take a dip in the 

famous Szchenyi Baths

Getting to the Baths turned out to 

be the most difficult thing in the world.

Normally we would just catch the subway

right by our hotel, ride it three stops

and we would be there.  However, that day

there was a huge pride festival going on 

that closed down most of the city center, right

where the baths are located .... it took

us a good couple of hours to find a way around the 

festival.  The way we found was to walk on the sketchiest, tiniest 

little side walk right next to the freeway

To our dismay, the sidewalk just ended without 

getting us totally across the freeway. So, we had 

no choice but to hike up our sundresses and 

jump over the side of the over pass.  Luckily we 

had gotten far enough that this was an option, and it 

was only a few feet to jump.

But we finally made it! We got 

there right as the sun was setting which

made for the perfect evening relaxing 

in the warm baths.

This particular pool had a lazy river

and geysers popping up everywhere 

Every Saturday night these baths host

a Sparty.  A DJ comes in and they light the 

whole place up and have a party all night long!

We were hoping to be able to stay for the party 

but it was a separate entrance fee and we 

had only brought enough hungarian money 

to pay to get in once.  But we at least got to

see them setting up for it.

Getting back home was a breeze compared to 

the adventure we had to go on to get there.  All 

the subway stops had been reopened so we were 

able to get back to the hotel without any problems.

One thing that I loved about Budapest

is that it is a very lively city.  There are always

tons of things going on and people everywhere out

to enjoy the city and have a good time. 

After changing out of our swim attire, 

we met up with my dad and headed over to  

take a ride on the Budapest eye to get some

great views of the city at night!