BUDAPEST, Hungary — Visitors to Budapest can't help feeling that the ancient city has something of a split personality, but that just makes it twice as interesting.
The city — itself divided by the Danube River into hilly Buda and flat, hazy Pest — has been defined by its location in the center of some of history's major empires.
Traces of each epoch remain, giving the city a unique east-west feel among the reviving capitals of central and eastern Europe.
Start with the numerous public baths, a legacy of the Ottoman Turks who ruled the city for 150 years until the Hapsburgs kicked them out at the end of the 17th century.
Travelers have been drawn to the healing waters from more than 100 natural hot springs since the Middle Ages.
The impressive green dome of the Kiraly baths, built in the 16th century by the Pasha of Buda, Arslan, still stands more than 400 years later, topped by a crescent moon. From the same era, the Rudas baths has at its core an octagonal pool under a 10-yard (meter) high dome supported by heavy stone columns.
The most famous and most spectacular, if a little worn at the edges, is the Gellert bathhouse, an art nouveau temple next to an imposing hotel that was once a palace.
Finished in 1918, the complex dazzles with a mosaic floor, stained glass windows, statues of swans and dolphin-head fountains.
Steamy mineral water pools and saunas provide relief from life's aches and pains, while those who need a little more help treat themselves to a vigorous, soapy massage for surprisingly little, by Western standards.
In fact, visitors may want to save the baths for the end of a day of sightseeing.
Start off instead riding the electric funicular to the top of Castle Hill, home base for the Hapsburgs during the centuries Budapest was the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The 19th century Royal Palace was gutted by fire during World War II but rebuilt afterward and now houses art collections and historic artifacts.
The cobblestoned streets and squares in the "Bourgeois district" surrounding it are lined with charming houses built by artisans and merchants. Some date back to the 18th century and include remnants of medieval walls and foundations.
At the bottom of a winding path down to the banks of the Danube, the famous lions of the city's first river crossing, the Chain Bridge, stand guard at either end.
Destroyed by the Nazis as they retreated from the advancing Red Army, the bridge was rebuilt after the war. Yet, it retains its fairytale quality, especially when hundreds of lights twinkle at night.
If you go. . .
The Hungarian National Tourism Office in New York City can be reached at 1-212-355-0240, or visit the Web site www.gotohungary.com.