 Rudas Turkish Baths - Wrecked
An Article Submitted to Various Travel Mags.
A few weekends ago I went to Budapest to sample the famous 450 year old
turkish baths. There are three main ones - Rudas, Rac and Kiraly.
(Sorry for the lack of accented Hungarian spellings). As might be well
known Hungary has recently joined the European Community and is now
spending vast sums of Euros to upgrade its tourist facilities.
Unfortunately this has meant that the atmospheric turkish baths -
unchanged for centuries, and still with the patina of use by thousands
of customers over the centuries - are now being gutted and modernised.
Certainly the Rac Baths - the only building left in the now demolished
Jewish quarter by the Castle - has now been so gutted that is now
resembles a bombed out shell. Gone are the baths, the steam rooms, the
dry heat rooms, and everything else. The only thing that now circulates
the windowless shell is the cold damp air blowing up from the frozen
Danube. The Baths will now be turned into yet another clinical and
sanitised 'spa' devoid of all ancient turkish history.
Unfortunately the Rudas Baths have already been given this treatment
over the last two years. I was there on the opening weekend. We queued
for about 20 minutes - this was a popular opening. There were three
security guards at the turnstyles. There was another outside. Security
guards at a turkish baths?!!! The cashier couldn't understand my
request in English for admission for swimming (in the 18'th baths) and
to the turkish baths. It seems that modernising for the tourists does
not mean learning English (or even having any signs in English).
Eventually I was sold a credit card size plastic security pass, and was
grudgingly allowed to pass through the first turnstyle by a gruff
looking security person. I was then directed to the turkish baths (what
remained of them). There another turnstyle had to be negotiated. No
towels or sheets were offered - luckily I'd brought my own. The
changing rooms were all modernised cubicles just like any swimming
pool. The cubicle staff were as aggressive as usual. Each cubical door
was locked from the inside by using the plastic card. This released a
key from the outside to be kept tied to one's swimming costume. Ah -
yes - swimming costumes were mandatory - everything was co-ed now. The
ancient turkish bath part that used to be for men only is now for
families including screaming kids. Then I entered the turkish baths
proper - and horror of horrors - the whole building had been gutted and
rebuilt with garish red marble!! NOTHING remains of the original 450
year old baths except for the roof. EVERYTHING was brand spanking new.
And GONE was the etheral and steamy atmosphere that had endured for so
many centuries. Even the drinking fountains (taps) had been replaced by
electronic proximity devices to turn the water on and off. Needless to
say in the humid atmosphere these failed to work properly. The four
pools of varying temperatures around the main pool had also received
the dreaded red marble treatment. And believe me the newly cut marble
edges were SHARP. Everything was bathed in bright light, and the
coloured glass openings in the old domed roof had been removed. The dry
heat rooms were tiny and now boasted plastic doors that didn't close
properly. The steam rooms had been removed. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT.
Obviously this is how the Rac Baths were going to end up. But worse was
to come. I wanted to get something to eat and drink - but nothing was
available. To visit the Cafeteria I had to pass through the second
turnstyle, and to do that I had to surrender the credit card pass. And
- no - I couldn't re-enter the baths. Feeling VERY upset I then decided
to visit the 18'th c. smimming baths. But despite having paid for this
with my credit card pass I was not allowed in. What an rip-off.
I hear that the Gellert Hotel - dating from the late 1800s/early 1900s
has also just had a refurbishment - so I hope that they haven't also
gone for the red marble treatment too.
Luckily the Kiraly Turkish Baths nearby have yet to be refurbished. So
do visit them before they too get a makeover for the tourists from the
EEC.
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