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The Hungarians came a thousand years before the Romans lived there, then the capital of Hungary ocupa.La hiding undiscovered treasures for travelers who want to be conquered this city that border the western and eastern Europe.
Despite its 2,000 years of history have been the protagonist of the most important episodes of the twentieth century European history, Budapest remains a big unknown to most international travelers.
The Danube, its thermal baths, the lively culture (classical music, sculpture, opera and museums), its history and architecture, are the memories that the traveler who comes to this capital halfway between Western Europe and Eastern Europe retain for ever from the modern capital created at the end of 100 years ago a union of Buda and Pest.
Its epicenter is the trip Andrassy, an architectural gem from the early twentieth century, and space recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO.
This avenue, which earlier this century rivaled the grand boulevards of Berlin or Paris in elegance and animation, is the memory of Hungary experienced the splendor of early twentieth century.
In conjunction with or independent Austria, Budapest was the capital of a state that extended far beyond the present borders and that was the scene where the Empress Sisi was one of his most remembered.
Opera, museums and baths
In fact it was this historical figure who opened the outstanding Opera (www.opera.hu) located in Budapest Andrassy Avenue with her husband the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, making it one of the most beautiful in Europe .
The theater stands today operatic activity, and may also meet in guided tours in Castilian.
This building can be reached by subway as they supposed to line one of the Budapest Metro (http://hampage.hu/trams/fav4/e_index.html), the first in continental Europe, which shows the splendor of the central European city. Recently restored, the metro line one is also now a real tourist attraction that runs through the ride just below Andrassy maintain your journey to the city park.
Located at the other end of Andrassy Avenue, the recreation area consists of the Millennium Park where a monumental plaza to commemorate the millennium of the arrival of the founders of the Hungarian country side distributed to various museums of art and leaves behind his Park City home to castles, thermal pools, a zoo and even an ice rink in winter as a postcard, permits ice skating in the summer as a lake.
The Danube at its best
This boulevard, situated on the flat area of Budapest in what was the ancient town of Pest, lies in the opposite direction to the Danube, whose shores are surrounded by beautiful Renaissance buildings can be traversed on foot or by some of the tram lines to taste the traveler, day or night, or if possible, both times.
Of all the buildings overlooking the river is the Hungarian Parliament, one of the postcards of the city, the most prominent building but not necessarily the most visited. Less than a mile down the Danube and connected by tram line 2 is the popular Budapest Grande Market opened in 1897 than in 1999 won the most valuable international architecture, the FIABCI Prix d'Excellence Award . A walk between the two points, which also allows you to enjoy beautiful views of the Danube.
The central Vorosmarty and lively pedestrian streets and shopping areas are adjacent to the city for those who enjoy combining purchasing and travel.
Without leaving Pest, The Basilica of St. Stephen, built in the late nineteenth century and with capacity to 8500 is another faithful postcards of the city along with Mahony Street Synagogue, the largest in Europe, recalling the large population Jews who came to live in Hungary, more than 500,000 people before World War II. The synagogue now offers guided tours in Spanish at a cost of eight euros.
Dozens of museums and baths
800 meters from the synagogue, and walk leisurely to enjoy the Renaissance buildings of the street Karoly and Museum, is the Hungarian National Museum a must for not leave Budapest without understanding the complex history of this town, which got done 1000 years from Asia to settle in the heart of Europe maintaining its original language and overcoming agrofines Ottoman rule for 150 years. Its floor with the history of twentieth-century Hungary is particularly interesting. Admission is free with Budapest Card as in other of the dozens of museums that the Hungarian capital offers visitors
Together with its thermal bath museums are other signs of identity of the city.
Of Ottoman rule, which for 150 years ruled the town, there are still ways a taste of the Hungarians by the thermal baths of which there are over 100 in Budapest, especially across the Danube where the plains of Pest became the Buda Hills, the city that hosted the castle, the Buda Castle and its medieval old quarter, which sought protection in the highest peoples throughout history who went through the plains of the Danube.
At the foot of Buda Castle, now converted into the National Gallery, are the famous thermal baths of Geller and Rudas, among others, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year seeking relief from muscle or bone pain due water to flow naturally from the mountains at high temperatures with minerals and salts.
Buddha from the heights, which can be accessed by funicular funny, is also the viewpoint of the city par excellence.
From the Castle of Buda or the Fishermen's Bastion, which are other typical postcard of the city, one can see several miles of the Danube, the famous bridges of Budapest as the Chain, or look on the front Hungarian Parliament, located on the opposite bank.
The historic Matthias Church, also in the Buda Castle district, where three kings were crowned Hungarian, located in the same area is another of the views has a rich collection of stone carvings, relics and memories of coronation. In its treasury can see the masterpieces of metalwork and textiles ecclesiastical.
A place in the Buda Castle district where, from above, in the imagination to recreate what was once the capital of Hungary of the early twentieth century, competing with Berlin, Paris or London in the construction of his underground life cultural museums and opera and its beautiful boulevards.
A grandeur and beauty that still retains the capital suspended in time, perhaps under some layers of history, and which is joined by the germination of an innovative city, young and bursting.
Even if this means that out of the guided walks and into the courtyards typical of old buildings, sometimes almost in ruins, where creative and antique shops for those who keep their treasures in addition to knowing Budapest, also want to know its inhabitants and above all their aspirations for the future.
USEFUL INFO
Malev (www.malev.com) Hungarian airline, has ten flights weekly from Madrid to Budapest. The daily flight at 8.30 am from Madrid can already be visiting the city center before noon. Malev also belongs to the OneWorld alliance which allows to combine flights of Iberia and other airlines.
