cave baths

the director of the language school i'm teaching in, anna, invited me on a day trip today. there were a few elements of the trip, but the recreation destination was the cave baths of Miskolctapolca. it's a common thing in hungary to go swimming in the thermal baths, use the saunas, and take water aerobic classes. i've done it countless times since i've been here, but these were different. in front of the caves there are a few acres of outdoor pools and grass. people were swimming, tanning, playing, eating, sitting, and having a great time as anna and i walked in. we were only interested in the cave part, as it's cooler, there's no sun, and fewer children. so we headed in to a building which looked nothing like a cave:
there we found locker rooms and bathrooms, so we changed and headed to the pools. the cave baths were discovered in the 16th century and studied for their medicinal benefits, pools were added in the early 1830s and 1930s, remodeled and modernized as late as 2005. the thermal springs in, under, and around the bath complex still supply them with a lot of water as well as some of the drinking water for the town.

here is the entrance pool: there are pounding waterfalls used like massage, jacuzzis, and "wild water" which is water with a current throughout the rivers in the cave.

the water in the caves doesn't move very fast, but there is definitely a discernable current.

it was so cool how everything was lit in there! you can see high up into the cave while you swim.

one of the tunnels leads to a dark room with music playing. it's called the "star room" because of the stars .... i don't know if those were holes or lights or what. there were a lot of lounging teenagers in there when we went in, so we didn't stay long.cave baths

to get from river system to river system within the cave, there were sidewalks and railings everywhere. some walkways had those heavy waterfalls in case you need a quick massage.

after we waded, swam in different temperature pools (not pictured), jacuzzied, and had waterfall massages, we ate a quick lunch - nectarins, cookies, and sandwiches with meat, cheese, and peppers, yum! - we took showers, changed, and left the lovely bath complex. i'm really glad i got to experience it because i had never swum in a cave before. :)