Hungary |
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Hungary's central position and experience in welcoming travelers makes it the ideal place to enter Eastern Europe.
The majority of travelers arrive in picturesque Budapest, which has a lively arts, café and music scene, and is host to a range of cultural and sporting festivals. To venture outside the capital is to travel through plains, resort-lined lakes, Baroque towns, and rustic villages. Hungary's other attractions include sampling its quality wines, 'taking the waters' in a relaxing thermal spa, or bird-watching in some of the best spots in Europe.
Hungary's capital straddles a gentle curve in the Danube. It's the administrative as well as the business and cultural centre of Hungary, and virtually everything that happens in the country starts, finishes or is taking place here.
But the beauty of Budapest is what really makes it stand apart. Its broad avenues, leafy parks and harmonious blend of architectural styles has earned it the nickname the 'Paris of Eastern Europe'. Budapest also has a turn-of-the-century feel to it, for it was then - during the industrial boom and the capital's heyday - that most of the city was built. The city is well laid-out, rarely confusing, and ideal for walking.
The walled Castle District is the premier destination for visitors, and contains some of Budapest's most important monuments and museums. It consists of two distinct parts: the Old Town, where commoners lived during medieval times; and the Royal Palace, the original site of a castle built in the 13th century. The Old Town is filled with attractively painted streets, decorative churches and the famous Fishermen's Bastion. The latter was built as a viewing platform in 1905, and named after the guild of fishermen responsible for defending this stretch of wall in the Middle Ages. It has commanding views over the city, and is dominated by seven gleaming turrets (representing the seven Magyar tribes who entered the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century), and a statue of St Stephen on horseback. Immediately south of the Old Town is the Royal Palace. Razed, rebuilt and redesigned over the past seven centuries, the palace houses a number of museums, including the National Gallery, which has an enormous collection devoted exclusively to Hungarian art.
Budapest's other highlights include a cruise along the Danube, strolling along the riverfront or across romantic bridges, browsing through antique bookshops and jewellery stores, or 'taking the waters' at one of the city's many spas. |
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