Julian LeMont

Foam Party at Palatinus - with the local boys

After a long dreary winter, nothing better in Budapest than to enjoy the outdoors during the warm summer months. Riding my bike along the Danube, basking in the sun at gay-owned CAFE MYLORD by the Szabadsag Hid (Freedom Bridge) and visiting the many spas in town rank among my favorite summer activities. There are 123 thermal springs bubbling in and around Budapest alone, and they feed several wonderful spas with outdoor swimming. During the summer months, however, only one outdoor pool particularly counts as a great place to relax, watch the boys and meet some hot Hungarians – it is the PALATINUS pool on the famous Margaret Island. Gay life in Hungary is quite different from the western-style circuit scene in the US or Western Europe. Among the queerest places in town, we find those not officially considered gay and thus hardly listed in any gay guides. PALATINUS is a case in point, as it attracts heaps of attractive young people and boasts a men-only and women-only changing, shower and recreation area, including an all-nude men-only suntanning terrace. Needless to say all of gay Budapest young and old flock here in the summer, and the atmosphere could not be cruisier.

speedo display at Palatinus

For years during the summer months, I have been going on my pilgrimages to Palatinus for great thermal water swimming, watching hot local boys and possibly meeting some of them up on the tanning terrace. Any visit to these Hungarian pools is highly ritualized, as most still use an old fashioned locker system with personal attendants, who run all over with keys to secure lockers and hand guests a numbered metal plate. Many of these locker room attendants already appear gay, but most are obese older guys and hardly worth worrying about. Once valuable personal items are locked away, swim gear and towels can be brought up to the terrace to occupy a lounge chair – on a sunny hot weekend, for instance, many a time they run out by 1 or 2 pm – that’s how popular the tanning area is. What is to follow is a never-ending parade of beauty, guys flaunting their stuff with or without swim gear, walking back and forth between their lounge chair, the various pools downstairs and the showers. That is where usually the cruising ritual starts and often leads to more under the showers in more remote corners, or better still in the nearby bathroom stalls. It is possible to enjoy a perfectly relaxing Sunday this way, basking in tons of homoeroticism, swimming in fresh thermal water often followed by a happy end with a handsome hung Hungarian.

Julian at Palatinus

Over the years, I have met many a hot local stud at Palatinus, but mostly involving innocent flirting, cruising and bantering. One Sunday, however, I rode my bike early along the Danube and arrived by 10am at Margaret Island and the pool grounds. It was a spectacular hot and sunny summer day in August, around the Hungarian National Holiday  (Aug 20th) and Palatinus was celebrating in style with a huge Foam and Pool party. It was not an officially gay event, but as the day progressed, more and more gay Hungarians arrived at the outdoor pools and paid an extra 1000 Forints admission to the special pool party. The big late summer bash was organized by one of the main radio stations, and in the course of the afternoon, tons of hot young people began playing in the smaller foam pool, drinking at the nearby bars, dancing inside and outside the water to club tunes and playing ball or chatting with friends inside the pool. There my eyes met with a handsome local boy, I had previously seen weeks before at a local club. Our eyes immediately locked and our respective friends even noticed that we could not hide our mutual attraction. What then followed was a long and erotic cat-and-mouse game throughout the premises of Palatinus, from the foam party grounds to the other thermal pools, up to our towels on the tanning terrace, where we stripped nude and I could admire his huge bulge.

Julian at Palatinus showers

As the afternoon heat gradually subsided and the spectacular chill-out phase started, the foam party was still going on strongly. Overall, however, many pool visitors had already left the main premises and my Hungarian hunk and I knew this was the perfect moment. We kept chasing each other around as far back as the shower area, where sulphur-rich thermal water churns out of rusty old pipes to make for a relaxing massaging shower experience. During men-hunting peak, each of those shower stalls would have someone showering, watching and stroking his stuff, mostly less attractive older guys though. This late on our foam party day, however, it was quiet already and only one other guy was there and got ready to leave. Before I knew it my stud assertively pushed me into the most remote part of the shower, ripped my speedos off and started licking all over my body. The eroticism of this moment was explosive and highly dangerous, as at any time, someone could have walked in on us, including the very own Palatinus pool staff, routinely checking on shower action, as this place has always had quite a reputation. Yet the danger added to our passion – the mere thought of some hot pool attendant catching us and then joining us, made the Hungarian porn-scenario even more attractive and steamy. We took turns discovering each other’s lean, tanned muscular bodies and I could hardly take all of his huge bulge all at once. The unforgettable scenario lasted for a good 10 minutes until we heard voices and had to take a break.

Budapest in summertime

We agreed to meet outside the pool entrance by closing time, however, and then continued our passionate love-making in the nearby park areas of the Margaret Island, again with considerable excitement and danger, as many couples and joggers were still walking the premises of this beautiful park this late in the evening. We managed to find a secluded spot,  where we were able to finish what started so wildly during Palatinus’ foam party, taking turns licking, sucking and then pounding each other relentlessly until finally releasing each other’s loads in firy passion. It was among the most unique erotic and culturally rich experiences I had had in years, and the epitome of how hot yet different gay life and sex can be in Hungary compared to elsewhere. My hung stud moved on to become a major star on Hungarian television, mostly known for his great dancing performances and shamefully good looks rather than his singing skills. Whenever I go back to Palatinus in summer time or watch his face on a billboard or on television, I am fondly reminded that I was able to get a slice of the hottest part of Hungary before it ever became mainstream.