Bathing beauties

Sunday 20 September#

We didn’t rush out this morning and the landlord was supposed to be coming round to hand back our deposit and make sure we were packed up, but as their next booking had cancelled and they had a gap, in the end he was happy for us to be ready to go that evening in time for our train and to come round then instead.

Off to the metro with our cossies to go to the big spa in the park, the distinctive and massive yellow builiding. 

The process there isn’t immediately obvious and it’s not the cheapest activity, and they’re terribly mean with towels, but once we worked things out we were fine and really enjoyed soaking our old bones in the warm baths (we both chickened out of the cold plunge pools) and the sauna indoors, and the whirlpool bath and warm pool outdoors. We finished off with a very fine therapeutic massage which was firm but not a painful pummelling session, and both felt very cleansed (apart from the chips we ate at lunchtime) and mellow. And strangely ok with our middle-aged bods in comparison to the shape some of our fellow bathers were in...

We headed back to the parliament building and caught the little rickety tram no. 2 which goes all the way along the river beyond the Russian-built and rather wonderful Liberty statue on the hill next to the citadel on the Buda side. 

We rode the tram straight back the other way and went in search of coffee and cake, then back on the metro and back to the park as we realised we’d missed Heroes Square and the Fine Art musueum. Sadly neither were accessible to us as the museum is closed until 2018 as part of a massive regeneration of the park area, and there was some kind of horse trotting races going on in the square so it was covered in tents and an arena - couldn’t even get a clear shot of the splendid statues on camera. Oh well, next time as I’m fairly sure there’ll be one.

Drinks and a cheap dinner in the ruin bars, and back to the flat to pack up. 

We had plenty of time so we had a final glass of wine at the little bar down the street where I’d gratefully sat down when I arrived. Paul came to give us our deposit and we caught the metro one stop to Keleti, and didn’t have to wait long before we were able to board the train. Have been very lucky to have Neil along on this leg as he’s been manhandling Nellie with aplomb where I’d have struggled.

We were pretty much alone in first class seats so could stretch out, though it wasn’t the most pristine and luxurious of carriages, and the train ride was far from smooth. We were actually relieved we hadn’t booked a cabin - it all looked very cramped and if the toilet facilities were anything like ours it really wouldn’t have been a particularly pleasant experience. We dozed for a while until passport control came along, and the guard on the Serbian side wasn’t very impressed that the natural brunette in my photo had been superseded by a fake blonde, flashing his torch on the photo and making it clear in any language that it was a bit dodgy.

We managed to get off to sleep, disturbed only by the commuters filling the carriage at 5am. We arrived at Belgrade station only a few minutes late, and if we’d been disappointed by the lack of luxury on our overnight train, we were totally unprepared for the pretty squalid conditions that awaited us.