Cave Women

Sophie and I became cave women over the last weekend of August.

Sophie and I have been friends for about eight years now, and we don’t have nearly enough time to spend together, so we opted to run away to a weekend to Miskolc. It was Sophie’s first time, while I spent two weeks there every summer growing up. My mother was a Miskolc native, and I spent lots of time in Martintelep, then Mályi, Szirma, Szirmabesenyő, where my family moved over the years. Miskolc gave me magical childhood memories, and I was ready to share them with Sophie.

One of my favorite memories is of the cave baths in Miskolctapolca, going with my parents, and with my cousin and her parents when we were just little girls. The baths then were super simple, just the various pools in the caves, a couple of thermal pools in a more modern area, and a pool outside. It was very much an adventure for us, and we both loved it. Afterwards we would spend hours playing playing on the “boat swings”, and eating ice cream, while our parents had a beer and some quiet time as two then only children entertained each other. Dozing off on the bus on the way back to Búza tér was a great part of the day.

So I wanted to share this experience with Sophie. After some adventures losing and finding her phone, we headed out to Tapolca, and thanks to our Miskolc Pass we got a free 4-hour entry to the baths. Let me tell you, after two hours we were exhausted and ready for the next adventure! We really enjoyed the lazy river, and discovering the various areas of the bath. That lazy river is something wonderful!

The second day we went to Lillafüred, where we visited the Anna cave and saw some amazing and very unique stone formations, and enjoyed the coolness of the cave at 10 degrees! It was so refreshing after the 36 degrees in the city! Again, entry to the cave with the Miskolc Pass was free, and we really enjoyed learning new things… for free.