This article was first published in 2014, and last updated on 20th September 2019. Enjoy the first hand experiences of our intrepid reporter…

“This is the place where Budapest comes to chill out,” Laszlo, a banker in Pest, tells me. “Many people come here to relax, but some come to do business deals, discuss politics, socialise, or meet members of the opposite sex – I even met my wife here!” he says with a glint in his eye. A visit to Budapest is not complete without a visit to one of its many marvellous bath houses.

I decided to investigate… braving sub-zero temperatures, flip-flop-wearing, moustachio-ed middle-aged men with pot bellies and more speedos than you could shake a towel at…

A leftover gift from the time of the Turkish occupation, most Budapestites today could not imagine life without baths, and they form a vital part of the social life of the city.

From the neo-baroque masterpiece that is the Szechenyi complex in the outskirts of Pest to the more basic Turkish-style Kiraly Baths in Buda, there is something to suit everyone’s taste. There are even the world-famous “sparty” club nights, that have gained fame and notoriety in equal measures in recent years.

I decided to investigate all that the five best baths in Budapest have to offer, braving sub-zero temperatures, flip-flop-wearing, moustachio-ed middle-aged men with pot bellies and more speedos than you could shake a towel at, in search of the perfect bath…

1. Szechenyi Baths

Szechenyi Baths, being the biggest and most popular baths in Budapest, are the first I made a bee-line for. Located out on the eastern fringes of the centre, close to Heroes’ Square and the City Zoo, this really is the ultimate bathing experience in the capital, and, arguably, Europe – it is the largest medicinal bath on the continent.

The first thing you notice about the Szechenyi baths is the stunning architecture. Neo-baroque, the pastel-yellow painted buildings were built in 1881, when they were known as the ‘Artesian Baths’; only completed in 1913, the sweeping colonnades and arches lend the whole complex a dignified, Habsburg feel which adds to the ambiance of the already relaxing baths. This is really a snapshot of Budapest society, and absolutely central to the city’s down time. Young, old, men, women, there are no social, sexual or age barriers here. “Guys even come here to play chess here,” continues Laszlo, whilst motioning to a group of older gentlemen, up to their necks in steaming water, intently staring at a game in progress.

Once you leave the outdoor zone and step inside the regal building another world opens up; fifteen pools spread over several hundred square metres, countless steam rooms, saunas, freezing plunge pools… one sauna is 80 degrees Celsius – this is a sauna you want to visit sparingly. Only for the truly hardcore, I manage two minutes and then sprint out the door before my eyeballs burn, and leap into the freezing plunge pool instead. I spend a further few hours slipping contentedly from sauna to bath to steam room to plunge pool and the afternoon passes in a steamy haze of carefree relaxation and pleasant chat with friendly locals and tourists, before retiring to the bar to sip a pint of Szoproni beer, feeling as chilled out as I can remember feeling.

2. Gellert Baths

On the opposite side of the Danube (as are all of the remaining baths), Gellert is probably the most well-known after Szechenyi. It is housed in an impressive art nouveau palace right by the river, down the hill from Citadella. It’s one of the prettiest baths in Budapest – where else can you swim below a stained-glass atrium?

Ornately decorated with beautiful mosaic tiles and regal pillars supporting high arched ceilings and marble balconies, Gellert can certainly claim to offer the most aesthetic of bathing experiences in Budapest, and its legendary curative thermal waters that flow from Gellert hill just above attract young and old for a healthy dose of relaxation.

Unlike Szechenyi, Gellert is a single-sex affair with mens’ and womens’ baths separate. I was treated to a rub-down and massage before embarking onto the pools. With the radio blaring Hungarian music, a monosyllabic, stern-looking guy got me to strip down and lie on a couch in a rather stark room. Twenty minutes of vigorous pummelling later, my back was left feeling a trifle sore, and I left wondering if it was worth the extra 15 Euros.

Slightly maze-like, the Gellert Baths are not straightforward to navigate, and all of the sign-posting is in Hungarian; this might not be a problem if the staff were a bit more helpful, but unfortunately they aren’t, and none spoke any English. Still, I had a pleasant swim in the massive pool, looking ridiculous with a blue plastic bag on my head (swimming caps compulsory), before heading to the steam baths and thermal waters to wind down.

With only two pools – 38 and 42 degrees Celsius respectively – and one steam room, it’s far smaller than Szechenyi, and it’s also a lot less crowded. Indeed, one old man of about 80 had the freedom of the place to stretch his legs, pacing endlessly up and down (I surmised as some part of a health programme), wearing only a small apron to hide his modesty. A far cry from the sexy daytime club vibe of Szechenyi, then, I thought as I headed out into the cool evening air and over the Danube to Pest for some refreshment and a bit more life.

3. Kiraly Baths

Kiraly, a bit further along the river and tucked away discreetly on a side-street, is a bit of an anomaly in the bath-culture of Budapest, in that it is not at all aimed at tourists, is a single-pool bath and has not been renovated. It’s the most Turkish in feel of all the baths in Budapest, and the oldest – built by Arslan, the Pasha of Buda, in 1565, it’s brickwork domes and arches take you back to Ottoman times.

Mainly a men-only bath (though women are allowed on two days each week), this bath house does have a reputation for being a gay hang-out, and your enjoyment of it may very well come down to how relaxed you are in a room full of naked men who appear to be checking each other out. It wasn’t this that made me feel a bit deflated, but the peeling paintwork, smelly toilets and almost complete lack of atmosphere – as well as one or two ‘nudge nudge, wink wink’ moments from slightly lascivious staff. “If you’re gay this is heaven,” Isztvan, a middle-aged guy here with his partner tells me. It is like a real Roman bath and people are very friendly with each other. And there aren’t so many tourists here, which is why we like it.” Which is fair enough – but I’d rather not be ogled by bald men with moustaches personally. Best advice – unless you are gay, choose a co-ed day here if you fancy checking out Kiraly’s faded Turkish charm.

4. Lukacs Baths

A bit out of the way, tucked away in a quiet area at the north end of the Buda by the river, Lukacs is by far the most family-oriented bath house, and is a co-ed experience with a friendly and welcoming vibe. I had a fantastic foot and leg massage before doing the round of baths and pools – two heated outdoor swimming pools are augmented by six indoor thermal pools, ranging from 25 to 45 degrees.

“We come here because it’s close to our home and we always meet our friends here,” Reka, an attractive young student tells me. “It’s relaxed and we know everyone here.” People come here to cure their colds in the chamomile steam bath, or wrap their bodies in mineral-rich mud in the skin-treatment room. Although not on a par with the elegant surrounds of Szechenyi or Gellert, Lukacs is smart, clean, modern and very pleasant – a nice family option.

5. Rudas Baths

Not only one of the city’s most mystical Turkish-style baths, Rudas is home to the monthly Cinetrip ‘sparty’ – that’s a party in a spa. Deciding to leave this till my last night in Budapest – it seemed fitting after a week of flitting in and out of bath houses that I’d spend my final Friday night out in one – I checked it out by day also.

The baths are similar in character to both Kiraly and Lukacs – similarly male-oriented to Kiraly but as clean and modern as Lukacs. However they took on a completely different aspect by night. The party was like nothing I had ever seen before: on entering, I was confronted by pounding techno, flashing lights, gyrating, bikini-clad bodies, fire-throwers, acrobats and DJs dressed in skimpy speedos and sunglasses. A night blurred by alcoholic excess in an environment which clubbing has rarely taken place before, this level of Bacchanalian revelry has to be seen to be believed, and yet seems completely in keeping with Budapest, where liberal attitudes prevail. “People come from all over Europe for these nights – they happily pay the 30 Euro entrance because they know this does not exist anywhere else” says Tomek, a Polish hipster who is traveling back to Krakow on the 6am bus. “It only happens here”. I make my way home back over the Danube, bleary eyed, as the sun comes up, and think – he’s right. Where else, after all, could it happen? (UPDATE: since this article was written the parties have moved to Szechenyi and Lukacs complexes. More info towards bottom of this article).

More Bathing Options…

6. Palatinus Beach

A good one for kids, this set of 11 swimming pools, including wave pool, thermal dips and water slides, was voted amongst the world’s most beautiful outdoor lidos by readers The Guardian no less. The complex is surrounded by greenery on Magaret Island.
en.palatinusstrand.hu

7. Kempinski The Spa

For a luxurious hotel spa experience head to the five star Kempinski where the 525 square metre facilities include a variety of massage and treatment rooms (Elemental Herbology anyone?), a fitness centre, Finnish and aroma saunas, a steam room, a Kneipp-bench, a tepidarium, an indoor pool and a health bar.
www.kempinski.com/en/budapest/hotel-corvinus/luxury-spa/

8. Dandar Baths

Ideal if you want to avoid the crowds, this delightful red-brick building is found in the south side of the city and has two outdoor pools and a sauna.
en.dandarfurdo.hu

9. Romai Baths

Another lido complex that the kids will enjoy, these pools were renovated in 2000 and in 2013 were fitted with some modern water slides and a children’s playground.
en.romaistrand.hu

Free & Discounted Entry

You can get discounts at many of these baths (usually 20%) by investing in a Budapest Card, on sale at Get Your Guide. One of the better value city cards around, this little baby gets you into several top museums and galleries for free, unlimited use of public transport and a free walking tour. Entrance to the Lukacs bath is actually completely free with the card!

Combo Tickets

Fancy combining the Hungarian hammam experience with a dinner cruise down the Danube? Or a splash at the Szechenyi with a three course meal at the world famous Gundel restaurant? Click on the links to reserve your spots!

Bath Parties

Editorial update. Since Stuart put on his budgie smugglers and gatecrashed the “sparty” in Rudas, the action has changed to Szechenyi Baths every Saturday night in summer and to Lukacs in winter. As of 2017 tickets start at around 50 euros per person, with a slight discount if you buy them in advance. Check out the websites bathsbudapest.com and spartybooking.com for more info. For a preview of what to expect check this video.

Video Inspiration

For more info about the Hungarian capital visit Urban Travel Blog’s weekend guide to Budapest. We’ve also covered some of the city’s other angles, such as its rooftop bars, escape rooms, ruin pubs, and these fun and unusual attractions!

About Stuart Wadsworth

Based in Krakow, Poland, Stuart has spent the last decade exploring Central and Eastern Europe, reporting for Urban Travel Blog, Rough Guides and his own blog The Art of Budget Travel.

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Let’s be honest: we native English speakers are pretty rubbish at languages. Most people’s memories of school lessons revolve around textbooks, tape recordings of French people asking for directions and writing letters to ‘Juan’ explaining what you did last summer. It’s hardly surprising to hear that the number of language students in the UK has halved over the last two decades.

Most people’s memories of school lessons revolve around textbooks, tape recordings of French people asking for directions and writing letters to ‘Juan’ explaining what you did last summer…

But what if you could combine language learning with your favourite hobby? What if you could learn whilst exploring some of the most beautiful, vibrant cities in the world? Whether you’re a food fanatic, wannabe surf dude, nature stomper, bar-hopping night owl, wine connoisseur, or culture vulture, Tandem’s ‘work hard, play hard’ philosophy offers you an unforgettable, fully immersive experience. I visited their San Sebastian school in Northern Spain to try it out for myself.

Immersion, Necessity & Leisure

“You don’t know a language, you live it. You don’t learn a language, you get used to it.”

Khatzumoto, Japanese Language Blogger

Anyone who has successfully learned a language will tell you that immersion is essential. But as a tourist this can be surprisingly hard to come by. In most European cities you’re almost certain to be served by that one pesky waiter who insists on practising his English with you. That’s why Tandem arrange for you to live with a native speaker in self-catered accommodation, meaning you are fully immersed from start to finish.

This sustained communication in a foreign language is tiring, but allows for a surprisingly effective learning experience. You can feel the cogs in your brain turning with increasing reluctance as fatigue sets in and this is where the second key factor comes into play: necessity. If you want clean clothes, you had better learn how to ask how the washing machine works. If you want to eat, you’d better find out where the chopping board is stored. And if you want to avoid those awkward silences, you’d better learn how to make some small talk!

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”

Chinese Proverb

The third factor is leisure. Part of the excitement is that Tandem rotate the cultural experiences on a weekly basis. They are always looking to improve and add to the evening activities on offer. This not only gives you a reason to go back but means that you won’t be getting a churned out, pre-packaged experience. Here’s an overview of activities on offer:

Activities

Cooking, Food & Wine

San Sebastian has a proud, historical and thriving gastronomical scene. Away from the clamour of the city centre is a small town called Pasai-Donibane. Tucked in the corner of its quaint, picturesque plaza is Ziaboga restaurant where the head chef taught us how to cook some classic local pintxos(the Basque take on tapas) as well as traditional seafood paella. Whilst language nerds will relish practising their kitchen-related imperatives and common nouns, a translator was on hand to limit any confusion-induced culinary disasters.

Nightlife

Another established truth amongst language learners is that a couple of beers can help to shake away any self-consciousness (Science says so…honest!). San Sebastian is packed full of great bars and pretty much all of them will serve an exciting array of pintxos. The whole point of pintxos is that they offer a sociable way to eat, drink and bar-hop; you try the establishment’s speciality before moving on to the next.

The guys at Tandem will happily point you in the direction of some great bars as well as the best nights to go out. In some districts a tradition called pintxo pote occurs every Thursday evening 7pm-10pm where you can get a pintxo and drink for €2. Following the economic crash, bars began to sign up to the scheme as a way to get people back out on the streets. Needless to say it became an instant hit amongst students and young people. You’ll be fluent in no time!

Surf Classes

San Sebastian’s Playa de la Zurriola is becoming one of Europe’s most attractive surfing destinations. The school can arrange a series of lessons or a one-off class on your behalf. The neighbourhood of Gros lies just behind the beach. The multitude of bars and cafes allow you to enjoy some of the most affordable après-surf food and drink in the city. Paddle boarding is a popular back-up option for when the waves don’t feel like co-operating.

Hikes & Horses in the Countryside

Shake the classroom stiffness out of your legs by taking a hike along the Basque region’s beautiful coastline. The rolling green hills, glistening ocean and striking cliff formations – much more akin to Wales or Ireland than Spain – are well worth seeing, with popular routes easily accessible by train or bus. Keeping Spanish conversation going over this more extended period of time requires serious dedication for beginners, but the stunning views give you plenty to marvel at. Horse riding lessons are also available for those still trying to pluck up the courage to practice their language skills on humans.

Culture

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”

Rita Mae Brown

Most language students will hopefully recognise a grain of truth in the above quote; understanding the history and culture of a place can hugely increase your understanding of how and why language is used. It won’t take you long to realise that in San Sebastian the road signs appear in two languages: Castilian Spanish and Basque. Even the city itself, known as Donostia to Basque speakers, has two names. One of Tandem’s walking tours includes a visit to the San Telmo museum which helps explain why. With the help of the guides, and English translations at hand just in case, you can learn more about Basque culture as well as its frosty relationship with the Franco regime.

Understanding the history and culture of a place can hugely increase your understanding of how and why language is used…

Doing a walking tour at the beginning of your visit is a must. It’s a chance to get your bearings, meet fellow-students, discover hidden gems, and listen to stories about the trials and tribulations of the city’s residents (the British and French don’t come across well…). Our tour covered the Old Town including a stroll down Boulevard, San Vicente Church, Abuztuaren 31 (the oldest and most famous street in the city), Konstituzio Plaza and a short hike up Mount Urgull for a stunning sunset view of the coast line.

It doesn’t take long to pick up on the fact that San Sebastian has a historical rivalry with neighbouring city Bilbao (this sentiment is most palpably felt when their two football teams meet). This includes an ongoing battle over which city should be considered the true cultural hub of the Basque region. Tandem can help you decide for yourself as they frequently run Saturday day-trips to the world famous Guggenheim modern art gallery.

The Lessons

Tandem have 25 years of experience. In addition to their successful philosophy towards language learning, a key strength is their flexibility. They accommodate large groups, all age-ranges, and all abilities. Some are studying for exams, some purely for leisure. Some students stayed for a week, some for a whole season. Some of the braver students had intensive, full day lessons, others just attended in the morning.

Given the diverse cliental they cater to, I was surprised at how personalised and well-pitched my lessons were. This in part was due to the rigorous assessment (reading, written and verbal) completed before I began to make sure I was put into an appropriate group.

To ensure the success of this flexible model, and with the make-up of their class changing on a weekly basis, the teachers also needed to be incredibly adaptable. And they certainly were! They were knowledgeable, experienced and had a wide repertoire of activities at their disposal. Co-director Bernd Kibbel told me that they strive to get to know all of their students, regardless of the length of their stay. This was true – particularly during quieter parts of the year – with the centre feeling more like a community than a language school, with everyone supporting each other on their journey irrespective of their level.

For me, Tandem has established a very appealing model for learning languages: a mixture of doing the things you love, living and conversing with native speakers, alongside quality teaching and learning in the classroom.

For me, Tandem has established a very appealing model for learning languages: a mixture of doing the things you love, living and conversing with native speakers, alongside quality teaching and learning in the classroom. And the good news is that they have a chain of 18 schools across five countries, allowing you to travel whilst learning Spanish, German, French and Italian. Be prepared for being out of your comfort zone, for those awkward, embarrassing moments, but sometimes, just like adjusting to a freezing cold swimming pool, it’s better to just hurl yourself in at the deep end.

Further Reading

This isn’t the first time Urban Travel Blog has enjoyed a fling with Northern Spain. Check out Ben Holbrook’s favourite places to visit in the Basque Country, as well as the Editor’s top things to do in the region.

Nor is it the first time we’ve expounded the benefits of studying a new language on your travels. Here’s what happened we took Portuguese classes in Rio de Janeiro, just a few blocks from Ipanema beach.

About Sam Howe

Having taught English around the world, as well as making the most of those long summer holidays, teaching has become Sam's passport to travel. Currently based in Valencia, he enjoys writing about food, sport, politics and his latest travel adventures.

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Like every little girl growing up, I used to love unicorns and horses. While it proved impossible to find a reliable unicorn stable anywhere near Rome, my parents did at least find a horse-riding school, where I practiced riding for several years, until it became too time-consuming to drive into the unspoiled countryside of northern Lazio twice a week. So my glorious career as an equestrian ended abruptly. Or, at least, that’s what I thought until last week, when I discovered that I could easily enjoy a horse back ride a few minutes drive from Rome’s city centre, inside the Appian Way Regional Park.

Although at first I was a bit afraid of climbing onto a horse after 20 years, it turned out that – a bit like riding a bicycle – you never forget how to mount a saddle.

Here, I tried out one of the many local experiences offered by Withlocals, hoping to re-bond with the horseback-rider child in me and. And although at first I was a bit afraid of climbing onto a horse after 20 years, it turned out that – a bit riding like a bicycle – you never forget how to mount a saddle.

The tour took us along the ancient Appian Way, one of the earliest roads that led into ancient Rome. There are several archaeological remains scattered throughout my favourite Roman park: this open-air museum features tombs and mausoleums built in different styles dating back to the Roman Republic. And dotted along the Appian Way, there are precious private mansions where actors, politicians and the wealthiest notable people still live today.

The tour took us along the ancient Appian Way, one of the earliest roads that led into ancient Rome.

Peeking through the fences surrounding the Forte Appio military zone, we saw a tower-shaped mausoleum. Riding farther, we stumbled upon Quinto Apuleio’s tomb and Ilaro Fusco’s majestic sepulchre, a red-brick structure with a marble relief that was build in the 19th century by Luigi Canina over the remains of the ancient tomb.

To be honest, I was more excited by the ride back to my childhood rather than by the Roman ruins. Petting the horse on its neck and feeling its mane passing through my fingers, hearing the sound of the hooves clip-clopping on the massive basalt cobbles – which have been there for 2,400 years – and the birds tweeting from the iconic Appian pines, which majestically frame this rural corner of Rome that is far – yet not far – from the busy city. All around us, Mother Nature was waking up on this bright, early-autumn morning.

But the best part of a ride is always the chemistry with the horse. Mine was perfectly tuned to my Sunday morning mood…

The tour ended at the Rabirii’s tomb, with its beautiful relief portraying two freedmen (former slaves who had been released from slavery thus becoming Ancient Roman citizens) together with the Egyptian Goddess Isis, whose iconic symbols – the goblet and the musical instrument sistrum – are carved in the marble as well.

But the best part of a ride is always the chemistry with the horse. Mine was perfectly tuned to my Sunday morning mood: I stopped every five minutes to take pictures and it indulged in some more grazing, so we constantly fell behind. But, as Horace wrote in his Satires: “the Via Appia is easier going if you take it slow.”

Urban Travel Blog booked this activity via WithLocals, and in fact you can find scores of fantastic experiences on offer via their website, from food tours with a hip local gourmet to taking a spin around town in a classic Fiat 500. To reserve a space on a saddle heading down the Appian Way then you can speak directly with Riding Ancient Rome.

About Giulia Riva

Rome-based Giulia, known to her followers as Giulia Blocal, is a lover of unconventional destinations, street art, urban landscapes and hidden spots, all of which she covers on her blog. More on Giulia here.

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It’s T-shirt weather in Valencia in December, as I pedal from my hotel to the nearby Turia Gardens, a nine kilometre long stretch of parkland with a surprising history. This diverse urban space has been slowly developed over the last 30 or so years along the dry bed of the river Turia, after authorities redirected its course further south following severe flooding in 1957, changing the city’s landscape forever.

In fact I am no stranger to the Turia, as I have fond memories of playing football and hanging out in these gorgeous gardens during the summer I spent in Valencia in 2005 – but I only saw a small portion of them back then. Today it’s my self-appointed mission to run the whole green gamut by bike, heading first west until I reach the new Bioparc on one end and then doubling back on myself to arrive at the world famous City of Arts and Sciences on the far east of the park before sunset. I want to see everything these gardens have to offer, and hopefully get an insight into why they form such an important part of Valencia’s life and identity today.

This diverse urban space has been slowly developed over the last 30 or so years along the dry bed of the river Turia…

Maybe because it’s a holiday today, but when I descend from street level into this depressed leafy strip I’m surprised by the number of joggers and cyclists out for a spin. We outnumber casual strollers by far, with the joggers flooding the inner lanes (often with dogs happily trotting along in tow), and cyclists zipping quickly along the outside ones… it’s all very organised. The gardens’ large network of walking/jogging/cycling paths criss-cross over and around scenic patches of grass, shrubs, flower beds and trees and plenty of funky urban architecture as well, and it’s a fun ride weaving in and out of lanes – and it’s not so busy that anyone cares if a cyclist meanders along on an interior path, or a pedestrian dares to step onto a bike path.

As I pootle along, stopping every now and again to take photographs or to peel off another layer of clothes on this warm winter day, I enjoy my submerged perspective of the city, ducking under both medieval and modern bridges (including the Calatrava-designed Alameda Bridge and Metro Station), and espying centuries-old church bells and spires glinting in the sunshine on either side of me.

I stop for a while at each to breath in the atmosphere of dreams, camaraderie and glory that exude from the turf.

Amongst the many leisure pursuits on display, I pass people playing volleyball, basketball and boules, practicing yoga, slacklining and strength-training, having an amateur photo session, or simply enjoying a picnic and a lie down; plus there are an abundance of designated play areas for children fitted out with climbing frames, slides, swings and skateboard ramps. The gardens are also wide enough to accommodate serious sports facilities, and along my way I also pass full-sized football pitches, a beautiful athletics track and even a baseball field. There’s not much going on a bank holiday like today, but I stop for a while at each to breath in the atmosphere of dreams, camaraderie and glory that exude from the turf.

That so many important facilities for the life of the city are situated within this verdant urban belt makes it hard to believe that this park nearly didn’t exist. “The first project for the old river wasn’t any garden; the first thing they wanted to build was a highway in the middle of the old river. But because democracy came back to Spain in the ’70s many people went to the streets asking for many things and in Valencia they said: the river Turia is ours, and we want it green.”

“…democracy came back to Spain in the ’70s many people went to the streets asking for many things and in Valencia they said: the river Turia is ours, and we want it green.”

This snippet from Valencia’s history was told to me by Alejandro, a native to the city who works as a tour guide. He is one of many modern Valencians who are very grateful for their parents’ role in bringing to life this vast recreation space. “Thanks to that generation we enjoy the nine kilometres garden that is used especially now days for running, jogging and a lot of sport – it’s a really nice place and we can enjoy it practically the whole year.”

As I continue on my journey west I come across something I definitely wasn’t expecting: a miniature lake. Ducks bob along by the reeds in the expectation of being fed, and one man is steering a remote controlled submarine in the water’s murky depths. There’s also a cafe, with that rare facility: a Valencian public toilet. A well timed appearance!

Ducks bob along by the reeds in the expectation of being fed, and one man is steering a remote controlled submarine in the water’s murky depths.

Just by the lake is a small amphitheatre and something is going on… I clamber up a grassy knoll with my bike to get a look and find a waggish entertainer enthralling kids with a comedy/magic crossover performance. Sadly for my inner child the show is soon over though, so I press on. In fact I press on a little too far, accidentally exiting the Turia, as I’m not able to locate the Bioparc, which my map assures me is at the end of the gardens. Finally someone points me on my way, and I locate the entrance, but whilst I’d love to stop and check out this innovative zoo, where natural landscaping forms the enclosures, rather than cages, the short daylight hours of December mean I have to start heading back to my final destination, the City of Arts and Sciences.

Cycling in Turia gardens today. It's T shirt weather in Valencia! These gardens stretch 9km along the old city river bed forming an incredibly diverse green leisure belt. #vivaValencia #visitvalencia #Valencia #Turia #park #cycling #citybreak #decembercitybreak #spain #lake #pond #utb #hopeidontgetsunburnt

A photo posted by Duncan Rhodes | UTB (@urbantravelblog) on Dec 8, 2015 at 4:08am PST

The going is quicker this time, although not without some surprises. At one point a handsome little lizard, buoyed no doubt by the unseasonally warm temperatures, challenges me to a game of hide and seek around a gnarled tree trunk. I get a good photo of him before he plays his trump card and disappears into a hole.

…a handsome little lizard, buoyed no doubt by the unseasonally warm temperatures, challenges me to a game of hide and seek…

Later I am passing back under the Puente de Serranos for the second time today when I hear the sound of music and laughter and decide to climb up onto street level to see what’s going on. A large group of 20- and 30-somethings are holding an impromptu swing session, blasting music out of a stereo and dancing in the twin shadows of the Torres de Serranos (well worth climbing these for views over Valencia by the way, which I did at a later date – it’s free with a tourist card!). I linger for a while to enjoy the atmosphere.

Next I pass a dusty open field where I recall playing one or two games of football with my fellow language school students back in 2005. In fact I distinctly remember forming a formidable defensive partnership with a towering Icelandic girl, who, as well as being a more commanding aerial presence, was also stronger and technically better than me. Ha! At any rate, we were reminiscent of Campbell and Toure in their prime!

I try to peer through the leaves to see what breed of mutant squirrel is causing all this kerfuffle…

After this nostalgic flashback my next mini-adventure occurs when, further down the park, I hear a loud rustling high up in a thickly foliaged, column-shaped tree. I try to peer through the leaves to see what breed of mutant squirrel is causing all this kerfuffle when two booted shoes descend from the boughs to my eye level. Wtf? I step back and allow this tree-dwelling tramp to drop back down to earth. He looks at me suspiciously, sits down about 10 metres away and lights up a cigarette. I pretend to take some photos of some nearby plants before awkwardly going on my way.

Next I come to one of my favourite spots in the Turia so far. A wonderfully peaceful set of neo-Grecian (as I will dub them) stoas bookending a shallow rectangular lake, which in turn reflects the form of the Palace of Music that overlooks this part of the park. A blonde girl is reclining against a pillar studying in the last of the afternoon sunlight. Not a bad spot to brush up on your notes, I think to myself.

This vast colourful sculpture in the form of Jonathan Swift’s trussed adventurer serves as a playground for Valencia’s children to clamber over…

By now I can see the City of Arts and Sciences in the background and I am keen to get there before the light goes, but I do stop for a second to check out “Gulliver”. This giant fibreglass sculpture in the form of Jonathan Swift’s trussed adventurer serves as a playground for Valencia’s children to clamber over – before sliding down his limbs and hair. I am tempted to join in but there are no bikes allowed and a security dude tells me to park mine or leave… which is my cue to get a groove on.

And suddenly there she is right before me… the most beautiful example of urban design I have ever laid eyes on. Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences.

And suddenly there she is right before me… the most beautiful example of urban design I have ever laid eyes on. Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences.

This magnificent mini-metropolis within a metropolis was designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava and is the undoubtedly the cynosure of the city (…and would be even if you transported it to London, Paris or New York!). It is a uniform ensemble of eye-catching buildings all with a distinct purpose. They include El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, which serves as a performing arts centre and is reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House. L’Hemisfèric, an IMAX theatre, its curves tracing the shape of an eye. El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe which is the largest building, almost skeletal in form, that houses a three floored interactive science museum. L’Umbracle, a landscaped walk with indigenous plants and modern sculptures. L’Àgora, a midnight blue coloured forum for concerts and sporting events. And finally L’Oceanogràfic, the largest oceanographic aquarium in Europe designed in the shape of a water lily (this time by Felix Candela) with 500 different species including dolphins, walruses, sea lions, seals, penguins, turtles, sharks and rays.

The whole city is one congruous urban space with water features reflecting forms that seem at once earthly and organic and at the same time otherworldly and divine. Desperate to take it all in I find myself hurrying around the entire perimeter trying to catch everything with my lens before the light completely fails on me. Eventually, with at least a couple of good shots on the memory card, I decide that, having made it all the way here, I’d better go inside. With some difficulty I find the bike parking (which is with the large, but discreetly disguised, car parking) and head to the science museum. Sadly I have only got time for a brief jaunt around (in any case it’s my second visit), but I do enjoy playing several of the interactive games designed to demonstrate to visitors some of the more curious principles of physics, and I’m also taken by the exhibits on radio and communication which even feature a German enigma coding machine from WWII.

The whole city is one congruous urban space with water features reflecting forms that seem at once earthly and organic and at the same time otherworldly and divine.

When I come out at dusk I snap another shot or two before heading to the L’Hemisferic to catch The Flight of the Butterflies movie. Strapping on my futuristic headgear, I lean back in my chair to enjoy the incredible migration of the Monarch butterfly in surround sound and vision. An hour later and it’s now completely dark, although the City of Arts and Sciences looks just as majestic… but this time ghostly and ethereal as its flowing forms are subtly underlit with white and red lights. I take one more photo before pedalling back through the hushed park to my hotel, thoroughly exhausted but happy. That my friends was one hell of a ride.

Duncan travelled to Valencia with The Travel Mob, on invitation of the Valencia Tourist Board, who have a tonne of great advice on their website as well as on their blog. He stayed at the Hospes Palau de la Mar 5 Star Hotel and is grateful to Solution Bike who delivered his wheels to the hotel (and collected them again at the end of the day).

You can check out even more stories on Valencia here, or on The Travel Mob’s Valencia page (coming soon!). Plus you might just enjoy this video below introducing not only the Turia Gardens but nine more of the city’s best sights:

About Duncan Rhodes

Duncan is the Editor-in-Chief of Urban Travel Blog, a born and bred city slicker who loves urban adventure, street art, killer bars and late night hotspots. More about Duncan here.

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My Moroccan adventure began in Marrakech. But not in the convoluted back alleys of the Medina where snails are boiled in cauldrons, oranges are pulverised into juice and every man, woman and child is trying to sell you a useless ornate tagine, a fake cashmere turban or a gram of hashish (“I have the best stuff my friend”). No, my journey began somewhere much more sanitised: from the lobby of a five-storey hotel with an outdoor swimming pool.

From there I headed north, with a group of travellers, by minibus to the former French colony of Casablanca, passing horse-drawn caleches, battered Renaults and caravans of camels along the way. It felt like we had stumbled into an Arabic version of the ‘Wacky Races’.

Casablanca is famous for two things: the Humphrey Bogart film and the Hassan II Mosque. And in my opinion both are excellent. We visited Bogart’s gin joint (Rick’s Café), which just isn’t as romantic in colour, and spent some time admiring the mammoth white marble mosque, which glowed ethereally in front of a backdrop of deep-blue sky. I’m far from religious but I couldn’t help but feel humbled in the presence of such an impressive monument.

Then we drove to the capital, Rabat, to meet our local tour guide Fadir. Cloaked in a slack blue and white striped gown he greeted us passionately beside the Kasbah des Oudaias.

“HELL-O, WELCOME. TODAY IS GOOD DAY.”

He had a habit of waving his arms around wildly as he spoke and somehow managed to pronounce each word in his short, sharp sentences with more intensity than the last.

I’d encountered a number of different Moroccan tour guides at this point and was delighted to find that this guy had attitude. He was more interested in the human side of things than the historical dates. He was keen to stress how culturally accepting the Moroccan people are – something that is undoubtedly true – but unlike some of the others he didn’t give off the impression that he was being paid by the tourism board to ram it down my throat.

Rows of glorious blue and white houses lent the Kasbah the imperfect aesthetics of a still life watercolour painting.

The eccentric Fadir led us through the grand sand-coloured stucco-fronted entrance into the Kasbah, which no longer serves as a fortress against foreign invaders or as a sanctuary for marauding pirates but as a neighbourhood for local Rabati families. Rows of glorious blue and white houses lent the Kasbah the imperfect aesthetics of a still life watercolour painting.

“ALL OF KASBAH PAINTED IN BLUE AND WHITE. WHOLE THING. EVERY WALL. WHY? TO KEEP OUT THE MOZZIES.” Fadir chuckled. “THEY HATE COLOURS BLUE AND WHITE!”

This didn’t seem like the real reason for the colour scheme but captivated by Fadir’s passionate presence we strolled through the rustic narrow streets of the Kasbah. We passed beautiful doorways embellished with mosaic, packs of wild cats sleeping on windowsills and attractive murals painted by local artists.

With the exception of a few young boys who managed to sprint down an alleyway giggling, Fadir endeavoured to greet everyone that we saw in the Kasbah with his mouth, hands and heart. The sense of community within the fortress walls was palpable.

We learned that every district in a Moroccan quarter has five things: a public oven for cooking breads and stews, a Koranic school for religious studies, a mosque for prayer, a public fountain for drinking and a hammam public bath for washing and socialising.

…the more conservative female members of Moroccan society still opt to wear the hijab, the groom may have no idea what his wife-to-be actually looks like. And to overcome this obstacle mothers are sometimes enlisted as spies and sent into the public baths to pass judgement.

Salaciously, the hammam also plays an important part in marriage preparation. Because the more conservative female members of Moroccan society still opt to wear the hijab, the groom may have no idea what his wife-to-be actually looks like. And to overcome this obstacle mothers are sometimes enlisted as spies and sent into the public baths to pass judgement. The mother then confers with the father, who passes the message on to the groom. It is said that the future of an engagement can come down to one of two words. A simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. This strange scenario struck me as being like a game of Chinese Whispers mixed with the TV show Dating in the Dark.

Fadir explained how the five neighbourhood staples helped to maintain strong communal ties within ever growing and ever modernising cities. And moments later, when we found ourselves at a cliff-side viewing point, the scope of the capital became apparent – this despite an atmospheric cloudy haze that had descended upon the seafront.

To the north there were casual beachgoers relaxing under red umbrellas, teenagers doing keepy-uppys on the sand and surfers bobbing about on yellow boards in the Atlantic wash. And to the east there was a vast patchwork of white buildings, grey roads and beige stretches of sand. As evidenced by tall needle-like cranes the patchwork was still incomplete. By the water’s edge a wide birth of sand that could loosely be described as a beach was occupied by parked cars. Swimmers watched on whilst Rabat’s ostentatious wealthy thrashed their jet skis about in the shallows of the Bou Regreg estuary.

To the north there were casual beachgoers relaxing under red umbrellas, teenagers doing keepy-uppys on the sand and surfers bobbing about on yellow boards in the Atlantic wash.

We climbed down some stairs towards the bottom of the cliff where Fadir started shouting at daredevils who were diving into the water from rocks. But it wasn’t their health he was worried about; it was their disregard for the rules of Ramadan.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU CANNOT SWIM IN SEA DURING RAMADAN.” Fadir said pointing directly at them, but in English for our sake.

“Why not?” One of the group asked.

“BE-CAUSE SALT,” he said raising his hand to his moustached lips, “SALT IS EATING. NOT ALLOWED FOR MUSLIM PEOPLE DURING RAMADAN.”

Still berating the salty-lip-lickers under his breath, Fadir led us to an artist’s house with a superb selection of kaleidoscopic tiles. The floors, walls and doors were plastered with seaside decorations made from pearlescent shells and richly coloured insets – this was in stark contrast to the whitewashed walls that ran throughout the rest of the Kasbah.

Our next stop was Fadir’s house. It was a cosy abode adorned with stained glass windows, potted plants and an intricate model ship made from wood. A skylight showered the sitting room with natural light.

“THIS HOUSE 300 YEARS, 12 GENERATIONS IN MY FAMILY.” He said proudly, “BUT TODAY, MY HOUSE IS YOUR HOUSE.”

He then started slapping the walls loudly to show us how sturdy his / our house was before lying on his bed, which he described as his “LIVING TOMB”. I was glad to sit down away from the clammy heat of the Kasbah for a little bit but I was swiftly encouraged to get up so we could “RELAX” in the Andalusian Gardens.

Although the thick Rabati air was getting more humid by the minute the luscious gardens were, in fact, relaxing as advertised. Gangs of languid teenagers sat on shaded benches burning incense as musicians strummed simple chords on guitars and banjos – it was a far-cry from the depraved play parks of North London where disaffected youths blare out aggressive UK grime from their phone speakers and leave blim-burns on their trackies.

Gangs of languid teenagers sat on shaded benches burning incense as musicians strummed simple chords on guitars and banjos – it was a far-cry from… North London where disaffected youths blare out aggressive UK grime from their phone speakers…

Fadir felt the teenagers were lazy. But mused that it’s “GOOD TO BE LITTLE BIT CRAZY SOME-TIMES. LET YOUR MIND FLY AWAY WITH THE BIRDS.”

It seems that the humidity (and hunger of Ramadan) was getting to Fadir. On exiting the Kasbah, we crossed a road and he tried to calm the traffic. Despite his best impression of a lollipop man the rush hour Rabatis were not impressed and endeavoured to snake through the gaps as we crossed. Crestfallen, for a moment, Fadir gestured aggressively, pointing an invisible fag at the drivers.

“YOU WANT MY CIGARETTE?” His anger quickly dissipated and he started laughing. “THEY MUST WANT MY CIGARETTES. SOME PEOPLE GET VERY ANGRY DURING RAMADAN. WHEN THE SUN IS DOWN I WILL HAVE FIVE CUPS OF COFFEE!”

A couple of minutes later it sounded as if Fadir had already got his hands on five cups of coffee. We were stood in a grid of white marble columns (ruins of a Mosque) on the Yacoub al-Mansour esplanade and he was running through an exhaustive but impossible to follow history of the place. He looked and started to sound like a mad man – he even attracted the attentions of a couple of Moroccan men in suits, who came over to listen to his rambling monologue with strained faces.

All I managed to take in from the performance was that King Hassan II (the ruler who built the Casablanca Hajj) was buried inside a mausoleum on the square and that in the past a pound of Moroccan sugar was traded for a pound of Italian marble. That’s two points at a pub quiz one day, surely, I thought to myself.

Presumably exhausted from his ramble, Fadir sat down on a wall and gave us license to explore the mausoleum: an opulent ceremonial masterclass of Islamic mosaic and decoration. Red flags attached to golden poles circled a coffin on the lower floor whilst a team of sentinels in white gowns, red capes and blue headdresses stood watch from above. Once again I found myself entranced by Morocco’s outstanding architecture.

Moments later I was spellbound by another feat of Moroccan extravagance. Fadir was engaged in an aggressive confrontation with a stacked policeman about half his age and twice his height. They cut a farcical tableau: slender Fadir in baggy blue and white sticking his finger in the air towards the face of the muscular policeman who was wearing a tight brown t-shirt and was arched over to point his finger back in Fadir’s face.

Fadir was engaged in an aggressive confrontation with a stacked policeman about half his age and twice his height. They cut a farcical tableau…

It turns out Fadir was affronted by the policeman’s request to see his official tour guide identification. But this didn’t become apparent until after Fadir – still shouting and screaming in bellicose Arabic – had been bundled into the minibus and we were driving away.

“I’M FROM RABAT. THREE-HUNDRED YEARS AGO, MY FAMILY LIVE HERE.” Fadir explained as we fled the scene. “HE’S CRAZY THAT MAN. I’M IM-PORTANT MAN!”

Although it was a little sad to see Fadir’s passion transform into aggression before we parted ways it did not alter my opinion of him and certainly didn’t mar my experience. To the contrary, it confirmed my suspicion that there was nobody better to be rocking the Kasbah with in Rabat than Fadir.

Josh was invited on a 10-day Moroccan Explorer Adventure by Topdeck Travel. The trip included half-board hotel accommodation throughout, private transfers from Marrakech to Casablanca, Rabat, Volubilis, Fes, the Atlas Mountains, Merzouga and Dades Gorge plus a night under the stars at a Berber camp in the Sahara Desert. You can read a report of his entire adventure on The Tiny Traveller.

About Josh Ferry Woodard

Josh Ferry Woodard is a freelance travel writer based in London. You can find his work on sites such as Reader's Digest, Huffington Post, Roads & Kingdoms, Slate, Paste, Spotted By Locals & many more.

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The post Rocking the Kasbah, in Rabat appeared first on Urban Travel Blog.

Hidden in the flow of the crowds that pack St. Irene Square, Athens’ latest day and night hotspot, I follow my Discover Greek Culture tour guide, a young historian named Sotiris as he weaves through the convivial mass of chattering, drinking and shopping locals (crisis, what crisis!?). I’m excitedly embarking on what promises to be a bespoke cultural experience, eager to find out what constitutes his insider view on art in Athens. However, as we duck out of the vibrant stream of foot traffic and head into a typical modern office building, one I’m sure I’d passed before, the situation doesn’t seem promising. As an Athens-based expat and travel writer I can say I’ve covered my share of art in the city, and of the many archaeological spaces, art museums and galleries I’ve come to recognize, this unmarked building definitely wouldn’t be the first stop.

Before I can ask Sotiris if we took a wrong turn, we enter an office space which I am fully expecting to be a call centre, or similar, only to be greeted instead by an open plan art studio. Instead of blinds and strip lighting, the winter sunshine is allowed to filter in from between the buildings surrounding us, creating a warm glow over everything. Absent are cubicle, swivel chairs, handsets, monitors and printers. Rather, in one corner, mismatched furniture creates a shabby sitting space, whilst throughout the room several large desks claim their invisible work perimeters over the speckled marble floor. Shelves and cubby holes line the areas beneath the windows that are piled and stocked with paints, pencils, fabrics and art tools and – here and there – splashes of accidental color. A clothesline hanging against the windows droops slightly from the weight of paper sketches and paintings.

…being a welcome guest in a local artist’s studio, I conclude, is a unique kind of art experience.

The studio’s occupants welcome us with warm smiles as they walk away from their cluttered surroundings to introduce themselves as Paris and Daniel, and with outward enthusiasm begin to chat comfortably about their work, a world about creating art in the modern yet ancient metropolis.

Paris Koutsikos starts off by spreading out some of his latest graphic design work for his local client, The National Theatre of Greece. Each event program cover displays his creativity, and love of style and color. Koutsikos explains his inspiration comes from the world around him, no vision really or plan.

“I decided I liked this city a lot,” he says, explaining how his visit to Greece years ago turned into a permanent move from Milan. “Athens is a hidden pearl if you think about it.”

Like Koutsikos, Egnéus works with a mix of various mediums. On his desktop he pulls up some of his work that depicts slices of everyday life in modern Athens.

“The studio is great to walk to. It’s a place to be inspired,” he says, nodding at his surroundings.

His illustrations, he says, are also featured in popular children’s books sold by big name publishers. He pulls out one of them, a picture book filled with illustrations that are a gothic interpretation of the Grimm Brothers’ Little Red Riding Hood. He turns back to his computer and starts clicking through his hard drive based portfolio and, with a grin, proudly pulls up more of his children’s illustrations. We all giggle along with him as we decipher the fun messages behind an unsold collection of creative children’s stories.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do with these.” He smiles at the screen.

I smile too. The experience is proving to be a sneak peek into the artist’s special collection of hand drawn and digital images, scenes expertly photo shopped together, birthed from the use of various mediums: crayons, paint, water color and ink. He toys with a few images in front of us to show how an artist can crop everything in and out a piece of work and just “be free” with a digital canvas.

Before we head out the door I learn the studio’s name: The Egg. Without further explanation, both artists offer our tour members very casual nods that seem to tell us the name simply makes sense.

I leave The Egg congratulating our guide, Sotiris. He explains Greece’s museums and galleries are also featured on the bespoke art tours as well. However, being a welcome guest in a local artist’s studio, I conclude, is a unique kind of art experience. It’s about gaining insight from artists who create now and successfully make a living doing what they love – inspired by the peculiarities and unique beauty of Athens. It’s something that one could only experience if one knows where to go. I unexpectedly had discovered where: an unmarked studio tucked between concrete office spaces, hidden in the heart of the capital.

Marissa was an invited guest of Discover Greek Culture. Prices start form 125 Euro for a five-hour half-day tour. For more information about their services or to book a tour, check out their website at: www.discovergreekculture.net. Meanwhile for more of Marissa’s stories, such as the time she went on a style tour of Barcelona, and more stories on Athens in general, click here.

About Marissa Tejada

Marissa Tejada is an American journalist, travel writer and author living in Athens. She's a regular contributor to Forbes Travel, Wine Enthusiast, GQ and Urban Travel Blog. Full bio here.

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The organisers of Sziget festival describe it as “an electronically amplified, warped amusement park that has nothing to do with reality”. Now, I’m a massive fan of: loud things; fun things; and weird things, so this sounded like my kind of party. But did Sziget live up to its mission statement?

When I stepped off the metro, the first impressions didn’t bode well – we were greeted by an Audi showroom and a few high rise block of flats as if we were in the Croydon of Hungary, with not much sign that Eastern Europe’s biggest festival was in full flow a few hundred yards away on the Danube river. Those notions quickly perished as I followed the throngs across to Óbudai-sziget (“Old Buda Island”) where I began to realise the impressive scale of Sziget.

The festival takes up the whole of island, ie. about 266 acres of land, with around 400,000 revellers coming in total throughout the whole week (the capacity on any one day is around 85,000). Unlike most festivals there is proper tarmac roads circling the main area, which was a relief on the first night as even my flimsy Converse could deal with the low levels of mud present. In fact the whole site is much better set up for coping with mud than many festivals (yes Glastonbury, I’m looking at you), with wellies a rare, rather than ubiquitous, sight. Camping also looked a lot more comfortable than many other festivals I have been to, as the tents are shaded by the trees, saving you from the sweaty headache from hell at sunrise… although I have to admit that, like many other “Szitizens” I cheated and stayed in a hotel in nearby Budapest. And here I should offer a word of advice: if you don’t want to piss off your hotelier remove your muddy Converse outside.

The variety of Szitizens is pretty remarkable. Obviously there are a lot of Hungarians, but the party-crazy Dutch bring around 30,000 people each year, whilst I noticed that there were a sizeable amount of Germans and British too in 2014 (come to think of it, virtually every nation in Europe seemed well represented). The average age is early or mid-20s – but even as a 30-something reporter I found enough other “veterans” to not feel like the oldest dude in town. Fancy dress was not as big a feature as at other festivals I’ve been to, which was probably due to a lot of day trippers from Budapest not wanting to get the train home dressed as a Gothic mermaid…

There is a really decent range of bars at the festival (which is a good thing as you cannot bring your own drink), serving up staple beers, ciders and pretty much every cocktail you could possibly think of (there is a whole bar dedicated to Jack Daniels). But in Hungary of course there is only one rocket fuel that the locals will recommend… palinka! We were fortunate enough to have a tasting session of some of the best palinka the country had to offer at the Gotohungary tent, but less privileged festival-goers will find more affordable stuff everywhere, even at the burger stalls. After trying the raspberry, plum, grape and lemon variety on my first night I was quickly able to cast off my post-30 gravitas and throw some serious shapes to Macklemore’s Thrift Store at the maign stage.

If you are going to stay for the whole festival you are going to need the palinka to see you through. It is a week-long extravaganza with big acts spread from early on in the week (Blink 182 & Deadmau5 in 2014) through to the weekend (the Prodigy and Calvin Harris). I was impressed that the majority of the campers I spoke to had stayed for the whole week and didn’t show any signs of flagging by the Sunday. This energy was epitomised by the daily main stage “Fight” with a different theme, from beach balls & bubbles, to the “it seemed fun at the time” Indian paint bombs.

Beyond the main stage we managed to find lots of other things that really give the festival a more varied feel. A particular highlight was the hidden away Sziget beach, where you can listen to Balearic House on the banks of the Danube and watch the sunset with a cocktail in hand (or go for after dark chilled vibe). As you’d expect there a few killer dance stages too, with the imposing Colosseum and the queerified Magic Mirrors the pick of the bunch. During the day you can explore the artists field, delve into the fluorescent labyrinth that is the Luminarium, or do all manner of things in the sky – bungee jump, chair swing, a sky-bar and the iconic Sziget wheel to name but a few. But what I found rather odd was that there were a few things that reminded you that “reality” was just around the corner, for example a set of football pitches (the first time I have seen festival goers wearing shin pads and boots), and perhaps more ominously a McDonalds outlet.

So, as I was swaying homewards bleary-eyed (having had my ear drums pounded with the most earth-shattering bass from the main stage… when did Calvin Harris turn from dweeby Scot to euro-dance demi-god?!), just as I was passing the Audi garage, I came up with what seemed at the time a profound insight: the closer a festival is to a city, the harder it is to feel you have escaped modern life.

This philosophical proclamation came to me when I compared my experience at Sziget to two other super-big festivals I have visited in recent years: Glastonbury, the granddaddy of rock festivals set in the rural valleys of England, which has a much more hippy free-spirit feel, and Burning Man, set out in the glaring sun of the Nevada desert, which is on a whole other level. Compared to these two far-out fiestas, Sziget, with its touches of commercialism and daily life happening right outside, doesn’t – and simply can’t – bring you as far away from reality as they do.

But – and it is a massive BUT – Sziget has the beautiful silver lining of being located right next door to one of Europe’s best cities. And if you buy the Sziget-Budapest CITYPASS for example you can take full advantage of all the capital’s clubs, restaurants and culture, as you get free access to all public transport, plus free entry to one of the world-famous spas.

So if I was going to rephrase the festival’s mission statement to reflect what I felt it achieved, it would be “an electronically amplified, warped amusement park that has something to do with reality, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing”. Not quite as catchy, but that’s reality for you.

Ben was invited to Budapest and shown around by the Sziget festival organisers, Gotohungary.com and the excellently-bearded local guide, Andrasz. Whilst in the Hungarian capital he also reviewed the city’s best rooftop bars and spent 60 minutes trying to escape from an Exit Room…

About Ben Rhodes

Bon vivant and amateur trumpet player, Ben likes to see as much of the world as possible, when he’s not busy saving it from behind his desk in London. Read more about Ben.

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I’m crouched down behind the plastic slides of a playground, lying in wait, my zoom lens honing in on its target… but wait, there’s no need to call the police! The subjects of my attention are in fact perfectly safe as they casually browse the graphic novels and poetry compilations of Barcelona’s Independent Book Fair, which is taking place right next to where I’m lurking. And whilst I do feel (and maybe even look) a bit like a voyeur up to no good, or possibly a nefarious contract killer, in fact I’m nothing more sinister than a street photographer for the day, patiently waiting for the right angle for my shot. And finally I get it! Two girls wander into my viewfinder so that they are perfectly framed by a hole in one of the blue plastic slides. I press the shutter release and hear the rapid fire of continuous shoot mode.

Framing is just one of the techniques I and fellow blogger Rob Dobson, of Homage to Barcelona, are being encouraged to employ by our guide on this photo tour of Barcelona’s Born district. Another, one that Rob has clearly taken to heart, is changing your viewpoint – the H2BCN man frequently plonks himself on his posterior, getting as low to the ground as possible and fashioning some excellent results in the process. After he gets a particularly good “rat’s-eye-view” snap of one of the district’s innumerable dark and dank alleys, I feel obliged to copy his creative vision (not for the first time in the afternoon!) and get my jeans dirty in the name of the art. Inspecting the LCD screen on my camera I am glad to see it was worth it, the in-your-face detail of a wet manhole cover creating an image you can almost smell.

Our guide and instructor on the tour, Alejandro Rojas, a professional photographer (and, as I later discover, interviewer of the stars!), is always on hand with some sage advice for improving our shots. At one stage I lament that my photo of a church, shot with aperture priority mode on my Nikon 310, somehow doesn’t look as good as Rob’s on his humble iPad camera. Alejandro points out that the varying amount of light on the church’s facade means that the top part of my image is overexposed, making it pale and washed out. Whilst he can’t fix the light, he teaches me how to read the light meter on manual mode and adjust the shot, underexposing it fractionally, making the whole church front darker and more defined. This relatively simple advice makes a dramatic difference, and for the rest of the afternoon I start getting to grips with the camera’s manual settings… something I’d realistically struggle to do without a knowledgeable pro on hand, giving me the instant answers I need to keep shooting.

As we make our way through the bar and cafe-lined pedestrianised street of L’Allada Vermell there is enough time to capture two of my favourite images from the day – the first an eccentric front door surrounded by potted plants, the second a series of polka-dotted pennants stringed across the avenue – before we retire to a cafe to de-construct our afternoon’s labours. Over a homemade vermouth we discuss some selected shots. Alejandro is relentlessly positive, finding something to admire in nearly every photo, whilst still occasionally giving hints on how they might have been improved. I try to take a step back and not get carried away: but even though neither Rob nor I will be turning pro any time soon by my reckoning, it’s hard not to think that, sporadically at least, we’ve managed to turn the every day and the mundane into the beautiful and provocative. And I guess that’s what street photography is all about.

Creative Tourism in Barcelona

There has been a growing trend of creative and alternative tourism in the Catalan capital, with a spate of interesting options arising in recent years, offering travellers a change from typical guided walking and bus tours. Here are some of our favourites:

Shutter Kings Barcelona

Our go-to guys for photo tours of Barcelona, the knowledgeable and personable professional photographers on their team make learning the art of lenscraft a great pleasure. They take you around the back streets of the city, and help you think about photography in a different way – as well as improving your technical skills. And if you think you look better in front of the camera than behind it, they also offer photo shoots.
www.shutterkingsbarcelona.com

ArtyBarcelona

If you’ve been to Park Guell and got inspired by Gaudi’s trencadis technique (ie. creating art with broken tiles and ceramics) then the Mosaic Class at ArtyBarcelona is definitely for you. With the help of your Catalan teacher you’ll be able to create your own Modernista-style souvenir.
www.artybarcelona.com/mosaic-class-barcelona/

Barcelona Life

Cooking workshops are currently the most popular creative activities amongst tourists, and local online guide Barcelona Life offer two distinct classes via their website. One is a very affordable paella cooking workshop, where you team up with the rest of the group and a Spanish chef to make the famous rice dish from Valencia. The other is a more refined gourmet experience, cooking (and of course eating) a four course meal with a local chef’s expert guidance. Click here for more info.

La Terrazza Atico

Break out the palette and paintbrush with La Terrazza Atico who offer one day watercolour workshops on the streets of BCN. You’ll get a fair bit of technical help with this potentially tricky medium, and then try your hand at capturing one of the city’s many iconic vistas. Also offer week long holidays for the more determined artist.
www.la-terraza-atico.com

Artour BCN

Offering four gallery tours and four photography tours, this young company has recently expanded the creative tourism potential of Barcelona. Their “Initiation Art Tour” for example introduces you to the city’s art scene, visiting galleries and workshops and learning about the different techniques artists use to create their work.
www.artourbcn.com

For even more on alternative tourism check out our own article on luxury shopping tours in Barcelona, which takes the visitor on a whirlwind tour of the luxury and design worlds in the Catalan capital, from independent boutiques to the antique treasure troves frequented by Hollywood costume designers.

About Duncan Rhodes

Duncan is the Editor-in-Chief of Urban Travel Blog, a born and bred city slicker who loves urban adventure, street art, killer bars and late night hotspots. More about Duncan here.

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The post Shooting Up The Streets in Barcelona appeared first on Urban Travel Blog.

“Try moving the chess pieces so the crow flies down with the key… Now use the magnetic flute to get the ball out of the sand jar… Quick, pull the horse’s eye out and stick it in the table-top maze!”

Not all of these surreal clues, given to us by our Hungarian guide, helped us to finally “escape the room”, but by trial and error we made it out with under a minute to spare, a genuine sense of relief washing over us. Despite the roleplay scenario, for a minute there I felt I knew what it was like to be Luke Skywalker running out of time in a waste disposal unit of the Death Star, or even worse Dr. Lawrence Gordon chained up in a psychopath’s bathroom with just a handsaw for company.

Escape rooms were originally invented in Budapest in 2011 and the phenomenon has ballooned in recent years with some sources claiming there are now over a hundred existing in the Hungarian capital, and more spreading across European cities like Berlin and Bucharest. Whilst the idea is simple (a group of you are locked in a room with just one hour to escape by working through a series of puzzles in a similar style to The Crystal Maze) the execution of the one we went to in the Jewish Quarter of Budapest made it an extremely tense and thrilling 60 minutes.

Fronted by a sinister horse-masked doctor, ExitPoint operates within the confines of Fogashaz, one of the best ruin pubs in town. After a brief explanation of the game (including that none of the puzzles require knowledge of either Hungarian or English) we were locked into the exit room. We knew that we were against the clock and should not waste any time, but it was difficult to not just stand back and admire the decor; the room had a shabby vintage feel to it, with quirky ornaments and statues giving it an Alice in Wonderland aura, augmented by an eerie soundtrack seeping through cracks in the wall. At first we thought we were going to be locked in this room for the whole hour, but we eventually found the rabbit hole through to our next set of challenges.

I won’t spoil the challenges here but there is a good mix of arithmetic, codes to decipher, manual dexterity and observation, as well as twists on traditional board games. We had a team of three in the room which was just about right so that you can all fully participate, although you can have between 1-6 players (you pay for the room, so the more you are, the less it costs). Only about 40% of people escape within the hour, so don’t feel too disappointed if you are left to rot in the room.

If you are in Budapest for more than a weekend there are a host of other escape games to try around town. And don’t be surprised if you see an exit room coming to your own city soon…

Ben travelled to the capital as a guest of the Hungarian Tourist Board, working in partnership with Budapest Underguide, where he also experienced the Budapest Essentials Festival, and enjoyed a taste of the high life at some of the city’s best rooftop bars. For our weekend guide to the city click here.

About Ben Rhodes

Bon vivant and amateur trumpet player, Ben likes to see as much of the world as possible, when he’s not busy saving it from behind his desk in London. Read more about Ben.

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The post Budapest Escape Games: This Is Not An Exit appeared first on Urban Travel Blog.

If you have already travelled to the Hungarian capital, you will likely agree with my fellow Urban Travel Blogger Stuart Wadsworth that “Budapest is a city which demands your attention“, thanks to its delicious mix of old world elegance and rough-edged contemporary culture. Combine these year-round staple attractions with a heavy dose of eclectic DJs and bands, and shake vigorously with deals at the best pubs, cafés and restaurants in town, and you’ll be close to imagining the cocktail of experiences that make up the Budapest Essentials festival.

Budapest Essentials is an epic four day fiesta that takes place across the city (mainly on the “Pest” rather than “Buda” side of the river) in early June each year. You buy a wristband that gives you access to gigs, day tours, entry to the famous baths, and discounts at local bars and restaurants. Unlike many city festivals there is no ring-fenced areas where events are held, rather it happens throughout the city itself, encouraging you to take advantage of the vast array of day and night-time activities at your own pace. One local bar manager taking part in the event described the festival as “co-opetition”; cooperation and competition by small Budapest businesses that allows them to be greater than the sum of their parts for one weekend: for the benefit of themselves, the city and the festival goers.

Below are some of the personal highlights I experienced during the Essentials festival 2014, many of which in fact are on offer any time of the year. (For even more info, the festival’s official website has a mega montage video of what went down in twenty fourteen, and is of course also the best place to check out what will be happening in 2015 and subsequent years).

Exploring the City

An ever-increasing phenomenon in Budapest is worn-out architectural gems being reclaimed by the youthful city population, rather than being left to rot away unloved. The most obvious example is the trend for ruin pubs, which has been going on for well over a decade now, but there are also even more creative uses. For example Paloma has transformed the courtyard and first floor of Wagner house into a centre of contemporary arts and craft, where you can buy everything from handmade leather belts to vintage wedding planning or pop-art cushions, and was one of my favourite spots for a leisurely browse.

A more run-down, anarchic, creative commune centre is Muszi – you will have to find the decrepit door on Blaha Lujza, and make your way upstairs to the rag-doll combination of café, theatre, fusbol and even barbers! Budapest has also pioneered a new trend for “Escape Games” with the city’s ramshackle buildings an ideal location for spending the most thrilling hour of your life (full article coming soon on Urban Travel Blog… subscribe if you don’t want to miss it!).

Gastronomic Gratification

I found that the Jewish Quarter’s ramshackle streets, brimming with cafes and restaurants, was a great place to start a culinary expedition. Macesz Huszar offers a trip back in time to a 1950s Jewish grandma’s front room, serving up a plethora of traditional bean and stew dishes (although I’m not sure grandma would have served the gherkin and eggs pictured below in such a phallic manner!).

The Hungarian wines on offer at Innio are well worth trying, where the tasting menu expertly matches local Rieslings, Chardonnays and Sauternes with the savoury dishes. If you are down near the Danube try Kiosk for modern European food served in a vast bare-bricked warehouse with seating overlooking the river, or munch on some world-renowned gateaux at Gerbeaud patisserie.

Budapest is renowned for its ruin “garden” pubs (kerts), many of which have entertained more than one Urban Travel Blogger in the past. Since the editor penned this feature article on the ruin bars there have been a couple of developments to the scene. Just opened in 2014 is Farm, where the owner Jack has created a more refined, less “ruined”, kert that operates a sustainable ethos – all of the tasty tapas are sourced from local, organic ingredients and there is even a farmers’ market in the courtyard on Sunday mornings. The kerts have also branched out from being just pubs to nightclubs too, with Otkert pumping out crowdpleasers in its courtyard until the wee hours. Szimpla, the original and largest ruin pubs, is still a must-see for pub aficionados, as it has not lost any of its decrepit nook-and-cranny charm, even if it has now been discovered by stag parties as well as locals.

Music & Nightlife

Budapest Essentials really comes to life at night, with a smorgasbord of gigs and DJ sets dotted around the city. You are given a map as well as the website to help you plan your nights and squeeze in as much as possible. Below is a selection from UTB’s Saturday night, and it’s also worth checking out our post on the Top Five Rooftop Bars in Budapest (coming soon!).

Our Saturday evening started in the outdoor ampthitheatre at Aquarium nightclub, where our vivacious guide Dora tipped us off about a secret gig by the teenage troubadour George Ezra. Gorgeous George is most famous for his number 1 hit “Budapest” which he performed to a rapturous reception to his adoring fans, many of whom had joined him on an epic bus tour from the UK to Budapest (a city he admitted he had not been to despite the name of his chart topping song!). Not quite Frank Sinatra performing New York New York in Times Square, but a special moment all the same.

After George’s gentle crooning it was time to head somewhere a bit more upbeat, so we hopped onto the tram to the imposing Grand Central Market Hall. By day it is the largest indoor market in Budapest, but this night was transformed into the stage of an earth-shaking dubstep DJ set from the Gorillaz. Some canny market stalls were still open, selling over-sized vegetables as makeshift glo-sticks to the pumped up crowd.

Having moshed until our bones could take no more we met our guides at Hello Baby, where the club has a great outdoor yard that transforms into a latin-infused dancefloor after a few rounds of Hungary’s palinka (fruit brandy). And finally back to Aquarium, where the night was rounded off by a pumping set by 2ManyDJ’s. By this time there was only myself and a 50-year-old German doctor in philosophy left standing from our party, proof that age is no barrier to letting your hair down (even if you are both more follically challenged than your younger days…)

The next morning reminded me that being young isn’t all in the mind, as the body has to deal with the consequences of a youthful spirit. Fortunately two things brought me back to life: firstly the incomparable buffet breakfast served at the Nemzeti Hotel; and secondly the life-giving waters of Szechenyi Baths, which easily warrant the 10/10 rating awarded in our special feature on Budapest’s most famous baths.

All-in-all, if you are looking to discover one of the most dynamic cities in the world, combined with the excitement of a festival, minus the camping, then put Budapest Essentials in your diary for 2015.

Urban Travel Blog’s trip was kindly organised by the Hungarian Tourist Board in partnership with Budapest Underguide.

About Ben Rhodes

Bon vivant and amateur trumpet player, Ben likes to see as much of the world as possible, when he’s not busy saving it from behind his desk in London. Read more about Ben.

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The post Budapest Essentials: A Cocktail of Experiences appeared first on Urban Travel Blog.