Pest and Buda – two sides of the river Danube

Budapest is a beautiful city of just under 2 million people. It is, like Auckland, sprawling, and unlike Auckland, has an amazing transport system. The city is not unlike Vienna and Prague which is not surprising due to the influence of the Habsburg dynasty and the Austro Hungarian empire. Most of the buildings seem to have been built in the 17th to 18th centuries even though the area has been occupied by humans since neolithic times. One account I read summed it up: “Budapest was doing really well, until the Mongols came!“. The Mongols inflicted terrible ruin on the region so much so that later (after the Mongols left) people were encouraged to move in from other areas of Western Europe. The result of this is what we see today. The river is beautiful and there are lots of wonderful neo-classical buildings and churches along both sides of the Danube.

The Castle district is the area where a castle the main historic part of the city. The hill was fortified in the 13th Century but it is mostly neo-classical buildings now, due to lots of battles, sieges and WW2. The city is lovely and there are some unique parts to the UNESCO heritage site, for example Houdini’s house (Houdini did not live here!), the Royal Palace, Ruszwurm cafe, St. Matthius church, and the Labyrinths. Other sites in the city include the Opera house and the houses of Parliament and the Parisi Passage restaurant (too expensive to eat in but beautiful). All of them worth a look and easy to get to via bus/tram or metro.

Budapest by night is really gorgeous. We took the tram (No. 2) that runs along the Danube and the Castle and churches are all lit up. We alighted at the houses of Parliament which was ablaze with light.