Showing posts with label Hungary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hungary. Show all posts

Budapest

If you are in Hungary, you can not forget about capital of this country - Budapest.

History of Budapest begins when the Celts founded the city Ak-Ink on the Danaube river, which was taken by the Romans, who named it Aquincum and became the main city of Lower Pannonia. The ancestors of Hungarians, Magyars arrived in the territory in the 9th century, but their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of right Buda and Óbuda with Pest (Buda-Pest).


Today Budapest is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe with multiple places on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you will be in Budapest you can not miss:
  • Buda Castle - is one of the most famous and most visited sights of Budapest.
  • Millennium Underground Railway - the second oldest underground in the world!
  • The Houses of Parliament - neo-Gothic building contains amongst other things the Hungarian Crown Jewels
  • Thermal Baths - Budapest is also known as the City of Spas.
  • and other places and buildings from World Heritage Sites list like River Danube embankments, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square and others.




Good idea is to combine sightseeing in Budapest with spending few days at Balaton Lake. :)

Balaton Lake

The largest lake of Central Europe is located in Hungary. A long time ago I spent few days there to see the eclipse of the sun (in 1999), but then nobody heard about digital cameras so I can't paste my photos here. ;-)


Balaton is located in Transdanubia region and sometimes called "Hungarian Sea". Lake is long at 77 kilometers and wide at 14 kilometers, covers an area of 592 km2 (Balaton was about twice larger than at the present before 1863, when Sio-canal was opened and connected Balaton with Danaube river). Balaton is not deep, average depth is 3.2 m and maximum depth is 12.2 m. The best time to vacation at Lake Balaton is the period from June to August. Then, the average water temperature is 25 °C.


The major resorts around the lake are Siófok, Keszthely and Balatonfüred. Siófok is also called "Summer Capital of Hungary". On the northern shore of Balaton is located Tihany peninsula with Tirana hill, which offer a beautiful view of the entire lake. In the vicinity of Balaton Lake are well known hot spring. One of the most famous is in Heviz, where the water temperature in geyser reaches 38 degrees!

Hot springs in Heviz

Do not forget about Hungarian inn, where you can try typical Hungarian dishes.