A very different spa

Today we were off to our second spa in two days, the indulgence of it all.

The first thing I should mention about this post, this will be mainly made up of videos, in fact five in all. So if you are on your mobile using up your precious data allowance then this is not the post for you. Wait until you have a broadband connection!

The spa is not far from where we slept last night, just a five minute drive away. We know we are in the right place, hoards of Germans are wandering , like zombies, across the car park in their dressing gowns. Not a pretty sight, fat Germans, so early in the morning.

At first glance, it has all the hallmarks of a spa; the clinical look of the reception and corridors, the uniforms of those selling the tickets, the technical boards highlighting the chemicals in the water and the benefits of those chemicals. These places are also pretty good value. A three hour ticket costs in the region of eight euros.

Once through the changing rooms we come out into the main interior space, but this is much more like a standard UK swimming pool, one of those fun pools. A jacuzzi sits in the centre surrounded by an abstract shaped pool, into which a large water slide wends it way down from above, and screams emanate from the corner where there is a large whirlpool like spectacle.

I am not sure of the healing powers of a water slides and whirlpools, but it looks fun.

We head outside.

Here there are no less than eight pools;

Three oblong general swimming pools of different temperatures, but generally not that warm.

Two hot pools, one covered by a wooden shade.

A wave pool.

A leisure pool with bar in the centre and stools where you can sip your mojito, I like the sound of that and a paddling pool.

There is also a slide in the far corner which we never got to have a go on.

It is still quite early, maybe eleven, but the place is filling up quickly with both families and quite a few OAP tourists. Each take their place in their respective parts of the spa.

We head off to explore.

 

Indoors

The whirlpool

Brilliant fun, but not at all relaxing, quite crowded and the constant fear of bumping into everyone. Also quite tiring really.

 

 

The jacuzzi

Also not that relaxing due to the constant screaming from the nearby whirlpool. And quite difficult to obtain a space, it is pretty popular.

 

The waterslide

We were not sure whether there would be an age limit to this one, we weren’t too old and we were allowed on. Five minutes shivering waiting at the top of the ladder, before a sedate start, which then plunges you into darkness, star lights before you are ejected unceremoniously into the light at the bottom.

 

 

Bubble chairs

Not sure how to describe these. You lay in shallow water at the edge of the pool surrounded by streams of bubbles. Not that warm really.

 

Thermal pools

We paid an extra Euro to access a couple of thermal pools. These are much quieter, no children here and the average age of the few that are wallowing in the hot water is probably around the century level. These are really pleasant and relaxing. Numerous water spouts massage the body, but too long here and we will come out as wrinkly as the old fogies.

 

We head back outside

Outside

The thermal pools

These are much quieter than the rest of the pools, with few children and are delightfully warm.

 

 

The wave pool

Every hour this small pool becomes a cauldron of frothy peaks, not so much waves, just a general maelstrom. Again quite exhausting trying to avoid everyone.

 

 

Pretty soon our three hours are up and we have to head off.

We now head up the lake towards Budapest. We won’t get there today as we have a couple of other items on the agenda, first of which is a visit to a cave network.

Tapolca cave

Now often we find caves are all pretty similar, although the scale may vary dramatically, as tourists you are always constrained to limited areas. What appeals with this complex is a boat trip, one which you row the boat. This sound great fun.

A display board suggests a 20 minute wait, but this is changing sometimes getting shorter, sometimes longer. Others congregate until there is a group of about thirty.

Eventually we head inside where there is an exhibition about the system, luckily for us in English. The tour guide obviously gives his talk in Hungarian, which is then translated into Slovak for a group of twenty. This is incredibly time consuming. We push ahead looking at all the displays. They have some really artificial looking three dimensional images on TV screens which you view with 3D glasses, impressive, but quite fake.

We have to wait fifteen minutes before the group catches up then we can watch a short 3D movie. This is turning out to be quite a painful process.

Eventually we head down into the cave where we wait patiently for our boat, which appears from nowhere down a watery tunnel.

That is where we will be heading, off into the gloom of the mountainside.

Quite eerie and alone. They spread the boats out so you are quite isolated. Every so often an escape sign shows you the way out, quite intimidating!

They rock formations are still lovely, but this is no karst landscape, no limestone, so there is an absence of stalactites and stalagmites.

You are meant to paddle, but in reality a lot of the time you are so close to the walls and ceilings that you use the oar as a barge pole, levering yourself along. At times the ceiling is so low you have to be a contortionist to avoid grazing your scalp.

 

 

These were our adventures for the day, both tranquil in their own ways. We headed north, towards Budapest, along the lakeside of Balaton. Hungary has no coastline and therefore Balaton is its playground, its beach. Like any other seaside area you get beach, marinas, camping and tat.

Near the top a large promontory juts into the lake.

We hoped there would be views from the top, which we cannot find, instead we find views from where the ferry crosses.

It is an amazing lake.

We head a short distance away from the lake to find a place for the night and get excellent internet reception as we are directly below a mobile phone mast!

GDR