A hot sulphuric bath

Got up and Mayumi was already all set to leave for another remote Hungarian town before she got an email to meet her friend in Budapest. Jeez, I thought I was making last minute plans, she was even more last minute than I thought! :)

As there isn't much else for me to see in town, I decided to head out to Harkány which is famous for the thermal baths since the 18th century for a nice dip in the chilly but sunny morning. Walked to the nearby bus station and paid 450 Ft for a 45min ride south close to a tiny little town/village off the borders of Croatia. Accidentally walked into the spa resort through the back gates (which was opened!) without paying and ended up been escorted by the pool guards to the official entrance to pay. Apparently the waters here have the most sulphuric content in Hungary and famed to be medically good for people.

After paying 1900 Ft which I found later that I was quoted double the price since I was only using the public bath area, I soaked myself into the comfortable 33 degrees water that smells horribly bad. Reminds me of the last and only time when we enjoyed outdoor thermal pool at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, only that this is not as good, and there is no special mud to apply on your face or body. As you might have guessed, I was basically surrounded by seniors and I think I was the youngest person in the pool until a little boy came along with his dad. A fitness instructor of some sort came along after and with the help of some very relaxing music, began to get the whole pool into some chilled exercises and stretching, which was very well received by the crowd.

By 12.30pm, I was back in Pecs bus station walking back to the hostel to pick up my bag. Stopped by a kebab place Oazis on way to the train station and had one of the best kebab wrap ever (2nd only to those that I had in Istanbul), and only costs 550 Ft - highly recommended! Bought a train ticket to Zagreb for 5180 Ft from a lady at the counter who took so much pride in her work that she was meticulously using a ruler to cancel out sections on the ticket above her extremely neat headwriting. Got onto a train full of students going back/somewhere for the weekend. Passed by large swaths of greenery as well as snow covered fields as the weather struggled to decide what it wanted to be. Stopped by a village called Gyekenyes, which was effectively the border between Hungary and Croatia. Waited for my connecting train for an hour and half before boarding the final train to Zagreb. Had my first passport stamps by the border guards as they inspected the train with the huge guns and dogs! I guess the "rotten eggs" smell from my thermal bath played a part to turn the dog away immediately!

Arrived into Zagreb half an hour later than original due to the long checks at the borders and spent another 30 min before getting to Hobo Bear Hostel which was in the intersection of the Upper and Lower Zagreb, about 800m away from the main Trg Jelacica Square. A bunch of backpackers from down under taking advantage of the 10 KN (€1 = 7.5 KN) local beer during Friday happy hours. Paid my outstanding for the 1 night stay and dropped my backpack off in the room before shooting out for a quick walk around town.

Surprisingly, it was rather quiet on a night leading up to the weekend. Unlike some of the cities that I came across, this was tame compared, which also means that there wasn't much option for dinner as well. Since it is expected to be a short stay in the capital, I did not want to draw too much kunas and ended up in a Italian place behind the hostel with a massively huge Funghi pizza, which did the job of overloading my hungry stomach, and not much else. No night shots tonight as the weather turned really chilly and felt like -5 degrees under the snow fall and lashing winds.