✈️🌏 I Went Back to Hungary! Vol. 1 – Visiting a Thermal Bath During the Heatwave

Hi! I’m N, a teacher at Howdy Japanese Language School Nara 😊
This summer, I went back to Hungary ✈️
(My husband is Hungarian, and we lived in Hungary until four years ago.)
It was a long 17-hour journey, including connections: Kansai International Airport → Incheon (South Korea) → Hungary ✈️
This time, Europe was also being hit by a heatwave. As soon as I arrived at the airport, I was greeted by a wave of hot, humid air, and the heat made me feel dizzy right away 🥵
If you’re interested, I hope you’ll enjoy reading about my eventful 10-day stay 😊

Four years ago, summer was something I always looked forward to 🌻
Winters in Hungary are dark and long, and can sometimes feel a little gloomy. Summers, on the other hand, used to be cool and bright. After dinner, we would often take a walk in the park with ice cream in hand・・・🍦

But this time, a heatwave had arrived 🔥

I had seen reports about it on the news in Japan, but it really was incredibly hot!!
I experienced the hottest weather of my life, with a “feels-like” temperature of 43°C 🥵
Air conditioning is not as common in Europe as it is in Japan, so during the day, we kept the shutters closed to block the sunlight and keep the rooms as cool as possible.

Since it was too hot to go for walks or do much sightseeing, we wondered what we could do and eventually decided to visit a thermal bath ♨️
Hungary is actually famous for its thermal baths, and Hungarians love them 💕

The water is usually pleasantly warm rather than hot, so you can relax and take your time while chatting or even playing chess ♨️
There were also swimming pools, so we were able to enjoy both the pools and the thermal baths from morning until evening 🏊
We soaked in the thermal baths, ate snacks in the shade, played card games, and then went back into the baths again—a wonderfully relaxing day 🩷
By the way, swimming pools in Hungary are much deeper than those in Japan, and I almost drowned・・・😅

And that was only the beginning of my 10 days in Hungary ✨
I hope you’ll stay tuned for the next part 😊