A continuing indulgence

Sounds abstract doesn’t it, a cave spa. We didn’t really know what was ahead of us.

Come late September, Dora is up for sale.    If you or anyone you know is looking for a reasonably priced motorhome then please check out the following link; https://www.2wanderers.com/dora-for-sale/ or if you have any questions email us at; info@2wanderers.com Thanks

 

 

 

 

From Eger we had had a pleasant drive along narrow roads through the mountains until we eventually arrived at a fairly large and industrial town of Miskolc. Fairly large because it has a tram, but you never can know, it may just be a linear town with a linear tram running through the middle of it, industrial because a large, probably derelict,  power station sat near the edge, its graceful geometric cooling towers dominating the scenery. Looking at our map, Miskolc could be the second, third or fourth largest city in Hungary.

We headed off to a suburb, Miskolctapolca, a village that took part of its name from its big sister and Tapolca, a common name in Hungary. Perhaps this means cave as the last cave we visited was also in a Tapolca

We arrive in the afternoon, just before three. It is steaming hot and we can hear the fun from the outside pools. We have a dilemma, enter now at €12 or wait an hour for €6.

We wait an hour.

A pleasant hour sat in the shade of the trees surrounded by really tame wildlife. The small nimble red squirrels scampered really close, some local was feeding them walnuts.

These are now pretty much extinct in the UK due to the bullying American grey squirrels, sounds familiar!

A nuthatch, a little but bedraggled also came down to see us, but we weren’t quick enough to get a photo. I have never seen one so close, beautiful to witness it clinging upside down to the branches of a tree.

A few great tits also came down and had a strange fascination in Susana’s toes which culminated in; a peck, a scream and toes being clutched high off of the ground. This really isn’t going to get Susana into ornithology is it!

Just look at those black evil eyes!

Maybe it is about time those toes relaxed in some warm water.

A few minutes to four, but these Hungarians are sticklers to formality so we have to wait. Other frugal bathers queue behind us until eventually they let us in.

The outside resembles a normal swimming complex.

Except for the rather lovely extruded cone constructed from delightfully thin concrete, quite abstract as it is the only vaguely modernist form of the place.

We head inside to change, all fairly normal there. It is upstairs and you come out onto a little balcony that overlooks a wall of rock, water cascading down its face.

And in the rock tunnels disappear, tunnels filled with water, and people swimming into the tunnels.

This is going to be a bit special.

We had checked out trip advisor before we came. We are so glad we don’t contribute anymore. Many complained about;

the temperature of the water, too cold (it wasn’t 40, it was the temperature of a normal swimming pool and this is a cave, it is going to be cold, its underground, every cave I have ever been into is cold!

or the changing rooms were dirty- not when we were there!

or the staff were rude- Not sure, the ones we spoke to spoke no English so really wouldn’t know if they were being rude or not, however maybe this is understandable as they were dealing with obnoxious complaining Brits!

Maybe they were just simply labelled as ‘rude’ for not speaking English. SM

How sad if that was the only impression you took away from the day.

This place is awe inspiring, really special, takes your breathe away.

Local at those amazing calcium formations; half natural, half manmade, beautiful.

OK, it would have been more relaxing, more special if the screaming kids screamed less, or not so loudly, but then that is what screaming kids do, scream.

And I don’t blame them. Does this wonder not deserve being scream at? Such a quirky, fantastic place to be in. SM

And there were quite a lot of them, this being peak season and it being hot. Really we have only got ourselves to blame. We could have come in February, on a school day, in the morning. The water might have felt warmer, all things being relative!

Ok, bits of this were a bit cheesy; the coloured lights, the whirlpool. Is this really a therapeutic pool, or an abstract fun pool. There are hot thermal pools both inside and out but still filled with screaming kids.

But these pictures don’t really do the place justice, for that you will have to watch some video. Some is a bit gloomy, but that is also what it is like, some of it is speeded up, so you won’t get bored, and some of it a bit abstract, so we don’t get bored.

I think you get the focus of our trip to Hungary. Pretty obvious really, wasn’t it.

Each of our thermal bath experiences has been really different;

Hevis- the natural warm lake,

Kehidakustany- the leisure pool, slides and whirlpool,

Gellert- the historic, close to a roman experience in the heart of Budapest,

Miskolctapolca- finally, the spa set with a cave.

Each has been really special and memorable and lets face it, this is the home of spa.

As it gets later, the hoards begin to leave and it gets quieter. Time to explore the caves with less people around, time to relax in the 38 degree pools without a beach ball being flung in your direction. But eventually even we have to leave, the spa is closing for the night and we take a leisurely stroll back through the park. Susana is safe, she has her shoes on. We head back to Dora for a relaxed evening in.

We love our spa experiences and these have been special, but still not as special as this one. We have been back there twice now; in winter and in summer and maybe we will pop by later in this trip.

For us, the ultimate spa experience has been in south east Switzerland, in a small unassuming alpine village called Vals.

If you want the ultimate indulgence, try this one. Designed by Peter Zumtor originally back in the seventies he revisited the complex with a new spa which is a superb piece of modernism. The grey stone is locally quarried, but there is no attempt to hide its angular and rectilinear forms. This is not architecture trying to hide in the environment, this is man made and can sit cheek by jowl within the environment, contrasting with it.

On our last visit, in winter, we had the opportunity of a night swim.The pool steamed amongst the snow that had built up where the loungers would normally be. No screaming kids here, pure silence, as they recommended no talking.They were right the silence was beautiful, you could almost here the snow fall.

GDR