Budapest - Budapest is famous for for its Turkish baths and open air pools, but this summer there is an unusual addition to the capital's bathing scene: afloating beach on the Danube river, right in the city centre. Mayor Gabor Demszky on Thursday praised the solution to the "decades old" problem of Budapest citizens being cut off from the Danube by the two busy highways that run along its embankments.
The "beach" is actually a wooden-decked platform built onto old barges of the type that haul cargoes of coal and stone up and down the Danube.
It has an area of 1,700 square metres, larger than six tennis courts, with a 20-metre swimming pool, sand pits and a childrens' paddling pool and sun loungers.
In fact, Budapest has a history of floating bathing platforms, the largest of which operated between the two World Wars and could accommodate 3,000.
Back then, however, those who wanted to bathe had to jump into the Danube and brave its often treacherous currents.
