Travel Destinations for this August – Budapest, Hungary
The Hungarian capital of Budapest is a city populated with green parks, inspiring architecture and museums, beautiful attractions and of course a vibrant nightlife. The city is considered to be one of the continent’s most delightful and enjoyable capitals, oftentimes called the Pearl of the Danube due to its location and the hospitality of its inhabitants.
Budapest used to be two cities actually, separated by the Danube, the western town was Buda and the eastern one was Pest. As the centuries unfolded the two towns finally united by building bridges over th Danube and the Buda part of the city is where you will find cobbled streets and historical buildings while the Pest part of the city is where you’ll find the modern and commercial buildings such as banks, shops and everything else.
Nowadays there are three bridges which span the Danube and the capital has evolved into not only the political and commercial capital of the country but also a hub for culture, learning and travel as well. Budapest is surrounded by picturesque provincial towns, beach resorts, vine valleys and rugged plains so it is arguably a great place to start your discovery of Hungary.
One of the major landmarks of the city that you will have to see while there is the Buda Castle which used to be known as the Royal Palace or Royal Castle back when it was inhabited by a royal family. The castle can be found on the Buda side of the city, built on a hill overlooking the city. The castle has seen a lot of damage and combat over the centuries, its foundations were laid in the 13th century but due to hundreds of years of wars with the Ottoman Turks it has never regained its initial design, instead the current mix of Gothic and Baroque architecture was given to it during the 19th century.
One major landmark that you must see on the Pest side is of course the Parliament building, in some ways the perfect counterpart to the Buda Castle as this too is a large building with great architecture which was build in different styles and periods. The building is still used by the Hungarian parliament and is one of the largest parliament buildings in the world.
These are only two of the major landmarks that you should visit on your visit to Budapest, there are so many more to see not to mention experiencing the unique gastronomy and folk culture that the city and the country at large have to offer.
Photo by: wikipedia
