Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1984. január-június (38. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1984-03-29 / 13. szám
Thursday, March 29. 1984. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO 11. HUN6SRT TODAY arpab brioqe YUGO, Thermal Hotel MARGIT BRIDGE <r SZÉCHÉNYI LÁNCHÍD ' BRIDGE Rudas^ Bath @ Geliert Bath By the Waters Of Budapest Dipping into a tradition at the baths Reprinted from the N.Y. Times By ANDREW MARTON If you could cook I would marry you. — Ferenc Molnár W hen the mordant Hungarian playwright uttered this nuptial proposal, it was not the beauty ot some sultry Buda- v pest lady that held him spellbound. Molnar’s advances were directed at the steamy, sulfurous thermal waters coursing through the Budapest swimming pool he frequented. Such was the degree of his infatuation with Budapest’s natural hot springs and the health spas they feed. In most countries, swimming is not deemed to be an ideal wintertime recreation unless one is tempted by breaststroking in heavily chlorinated indoor pools. While most Europeans survive January and February huddled around crackling fires cocooned in layers of down, many Hungarians dip daily in their local thermal pool. Many a Budapest teen-ager, or pensioner, dons bathing suit and cap and plunges into 100-degree water, backstroking away an afternoon sis steam rises from the water to meet snowflakes falling from above. Budapest’s thermal water is fed by an underground labyrinth of wells and springs and has been a year-round center of Hungarian diversion for 2,000 years. But only now are Americans and Europeans beginning to take notice. Hungary’s standard tourist attractions are well known: lazy boat rides on the Danube River, restaurants serving up hearty goulash and shamelessly sentimental gypsy music and tours of the rugged Hungarian puszta, or plain. Few know that Hungary also offers 450 thermal springs, 120 of them in Budapest. Throughout the country, these wells spew up daily 654,000 cubic yards of thermal water, with the average temperature a toasty 77 degrees. For those who can take ft, the water can reach 122 degrees. More and more American tourists, taking advantage of the exchange rate of 42 Hungarian forints to the United States dollar, are adding on a rest stop at one of Budapest’s major thermal centers to their agenda. Once there, frazzled tourists can check into a nearby hotel, head to the spa and relax for an hour, an afternoon or three weeks if their muscles really need attention. For a $1 entrance fee and 50 cents for each additional service, Americans can sample the center’s naturally heated pools, sauna, solarium, massage and mud packs. Any questions about the spa’s facilities are answered in English by the center’s amiable personnel. Most of the city’s thermal spas are clustered around the winding Danube, on the city’s hilly Buda side. The water’s mineral content varies depending on the well’s location. Most spa water is heavy in sulfur, calcium, magnesium, sodium chloride and iodine. These chemicals and minerals, absorbed through the skin and combined with the water’s intense heat, purportedly soothe aching and arthritic joints and rheumatoid bones, or relax pulled and tired muscles. The waters are said to bring temporary relief to some degenerative nerve conditions and to help heal minor fractures. Just drinking the mineral-rich water from one of the many ornate fountains that line a spa’s lobby is said Császár Bath ID Lukacs S Bath to be beneficial for gastrointestinal and urinary tract infections. Inhaling the water’s steam is also considered helpful for certain respiratory ailments Complete health programs are built around the Budapest waters. “Taking the cure” involves a three-week stay in a luxury hotel where white-smocked medical personnel, many of whom come from Hungary’s National Institute for Rheumatology and Physiotherapy, oversee the regimen. A typical Hungarian spa will offer a variety of baths, including tub, bubble, mud, brine and surf baths. Electrotherapy, curative gymnastics and underwater jet massage are popular additions to a full treatment. There is no dearth of Budapest spa enthusiasts. “The cure always puts me in much better shape and cuts down on my pain for a good six months afterwards,” said Eszter Kokas, an 80-year-old retired professor of physiology at the University of North Carolina Medical School. A native Hungarian, Mrs. Kokas has returned eight times to Budapest’s Lukacs spa to help ease the arthritis in her hips and osteoporosis from calcium deposits in her knees. Mrs. Kokas is not alone in her praise. Upon entering the stately Lukacs baths that border the Danube, a visitor is greeted by a long ochre-colored wall covered with 35 “plaques of gratitude” to the “curative powers” of the thermal waters. ANDREW MARTON is an associate editor of Institutional Investor magazine. The Gellert bath was built over a spring discovered in the 13th century. A guide to ‘taking the waters’ Making Arrangements The Hungarian Government tourist office (Ibusz Hungarian Travel Bureau, 630 Fifth Avenue, Suite 520, New York, N.Y. 10111; 212-582-7412) is introducing the European tradition of “taking the waters” in a package priced at $1,259 a person in double occupancy until April 1. The package includes round-trip air fare from New York to Budapest, three weeks at the Thermal Hotel, three meals daily, thermal cure including doctor’s examination, and gratuities. After April 1, the price rises to $1,359; after May 1, to $2,024. Flights leave daily from New York on KLM, Lufthansa, Swissair and' Pan American with connections (in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London or Zurich) to Budapest. For those who choose to make their own arrangements, the Carpathia Travel Agency (1543 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10028 ; 212-879-8003, 212-535-3612 or 212-737-2666) has for the last 20 years specialized in organizing tours to Eastern Europe with emphasis on Hungary. Spa Hotels Gellert Hotel (1111 Budapest, Szt. Gellert, Ter 1; telephone 460-700). Year-round rates: 154.50 for a single, $71.50 double and $111.50 for a suite Thermal Hotel (1138 Budapest XIII, Margitsziget; 111-000). Peak- season rates (April 1 through Jan. 1): $51.50 single, $73 double, $106 suite. From Jan. 2 through March 30: $38.50, $55 and $76. Baths The baths of the Gellert and Thermal hotels may also be used for a nominal fee by visitors who are not guests of the hotels; other baths in Budapest that can be used for a nominal fee: Császár Bath, Frankel Leo 35 (telephone 159-850). Király Bath, Fou 82-86 (153-000). Lukacs Bath, Frankel Leo 25-29 (154-280). Rudas Bath, Dobrentei Ter 9 (352330). Széchényi Bath, Állatkerti 11 (221220). A.M.
