Discovering Budapest – Part 2

Exploring Budapest.

If you’ve been around the blog lately, you already know that Budapest was officially formed in 1873 from the unification of three cities: Buda, Óbuda, and Pest. Buda is hilly and more residential, while Pest is flat and buzzing with urban life. Here are some more fun facts about it:

• Budapest is often called the City of Spas because it has more thermal springs than any other capital. There are around 118 springs supplying 70 million liters/18,492 gal of thermal water a day.
• Budapest is home to the second-oldest metro line in the world, the M1 line, also known as the Millennium Underground. It was inaugurated in 1896 and is still in operation today, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Beneath Budapest lies a vast network of caves formed by thermal waters. The longest of these, the Pál-völgyi cave system, stretches over 31 km/19 mi and is a popular spot for spelunking.
• Budapest is famous for its Ruin Bars—the trendy drinking spots set up in abandoned buildings and courtyards in the old Jewish Quarter. The most famous is Szimpla Kert, a quirky and eclectic venue that has become a cultural hotspot.
• The Hungarian Parliament Building is one of the largest in the world and features 691 rooms, ten courtyards, and 12.5 miles of stairs. It’s also home to the Hungarian Crown Jewels, including the Holy Crown of Hungary.
• The peaceful Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube River is a popular recreational area. It has medieval ruins, a small zoo, a musical fountain, and an outdoor water park, making it a perfect escape from the city hustle.
• Budapest is a paradise for food lovers, offering traditional Hungarian dishes like goulash, chimney cake, and langos (fried flatbread). The city also boasts several Michelin-starred restaurants, showcasing its vibrant culinary scene.
• The Dohány Street Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. It can accommodate 3,000 worshippers and features a mix of Romantic and Moorish architectural styles.

where we stayed

The Danube River

The Danube River is the second-longest river in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 2,850 km/1,771 mi to its mouth on the Black Sea. It passes through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. Three sections are discernible in the river’s basin: The upper course stretches from its source to the Hungarian Gates gorge (in the Austrian Alps) and the western Carpathian mountains. The middle course runs from the Hungarian Gates Gorge to the Iron Gate in the southern Romanian Carpathians. The lower course flows from the Iron Gate to the delta-like estuary at the Black Sea.

East of Komárno in Slovakia, the Danube enters the Visegrád Gorge. Then, it flows past Budapest and across the vast Great Alfold plain, traversing Croatia, Serbia, and Romania until it reaches the Iron Gate gorge. River accumulation has built several islands, including Csepel Island near Budapest. In this long stretch, the river takes on the waters of its major tributaries—the Drava, the Tisza, and the Sava. The average runoff increases from approximately 2,400 m³/85,000 ft³ per second north of Budapest to 5,600 m³/198,000 ft³ at the Iron Gate.

source: britannica.com

Danube Shoreline (Pest Side from South to North)

Danube Shoreline (Buda Side from North to South)

The Hungarian Parliament Building

40,000,000 bricks, 500,000 precious stones, and 40 kg/88 lb of gold were used for the construction of the Hungarian Parliament building. After an international competition, the project was commissioned to the Hungarian architect Imre Steindl. The two runner-up designs were also used later—they are the Ethnographic Museum and the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, built on the same square (Kossuth Lajos Ter) facing the Parliament.

Construction began in 1885. The project was inaugurated on the country’s 1000th anniversary in 1896 but was completed in 1904. The massive limestone building—with a striking resemblance to its model, the British Parliament in London—is remarkably ornated: it features rose windows; statues of Statesmen, clerics, and kings (242 sculptures in total, on both the exterior and the interior walls); an elaborately carved cornice topped with turrets, mansard roof lines, and a copper-colored dome. At the time of the Hungarian People’s Republic, a red star was perched on the dome.

Mátyás Szűrös, the provisional Hungarian president (October 23, 1989-May 2, 1990), made an official proclamation from its balcony, facing Kossuth Lajos Square on October 23, 1989. The dome star was removed in 1990.

The symmetrical interior features two identical halls, one used for guided tours. It includes ten courtyards, 13 passenger and freight elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases, and 691 rooms with more than 200 offices. It is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest, along with Saint Stephen’s Basilica.

The facade overlooks the River Danube, but the main entrance is on the square, on the east side of the building. It displays statues of Hungarian rulers, Transylvanian leaders, and famous military figures. Coats of arms of kings and dukes are depicted above the windows, while two lions flank the eastern staircase.

sources: wikipedia / theculturetrip.com

Margaret Island

Margaret Island (Margitsziget) is a 2.5 km/ 1.6 mi-long area in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest that spans between the Margaret Bridge to the south and the Árpád Bridge to the north. It had been known as Insula leporum (Island of the Rabbits) before it was named after Margaret of Hungary in the 14th century, the daughter of King Béla IV, who resided in a Dominican convent there. The Knights of St. John (a medieval and early modern Catholic military order) settled first on Margaret Island in the 12th century. Since then, nunneries, churches—Premonstratensian, Franciscan, and Dominican— and cloisters dominated its landscape until the 16th century. Members of the Augustinian order also lived on the premises.

During the Ottoman Wars, the monks and nuns fled, and the buildings were destroyed. In the 18th century, it became a resort for Palatines. It was declared a public garden in 1908. During World War II and the Siege of Budapest, the island was a site of fierce combat.

Its sights include the Centennial Memorial of 1973, by István Kiss, commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the city’s unification, a small Japanese garden with a thermal fish pond, a small zoo featuring a wide range of exotic waterfowl, the Musical Well (Zenélő kút), a small pavilion, built originally for open-air concerts, the Musical Fountain (Zenélő szökőkút), where illuminated performances take place in the summer, and an octagonal art nouveau Water Tower built in 1911, today functioning as a lookout point and an exhibition hall. The Musical Fountain and the Water Tower are designated UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The island houses various sports establishments, like the Palatinus water park (the largest open-air swimming complex in Budapest) and the Alfréd Hajós sports pool (where the European LC Championships in 1958, 2006, and 2010 took place). There is also an open-air theatre, several clubs, and restaurants.

*Images by Athina D. Pantazatou for Kicking Back the Pebbles