• Budapest
• Danube Bend
• Lake Balaton
Budapest
The importance of BUDAPEST to Hungary is difficult to
overestimate. More than two million people live in the capital - one
fifth of the population - and everything converges here: roads and rail
lines; air travel (Ferihegy is the country's only civilian airport);
industry, commerce and culture; opportunities, wealth and power. Like
Paris, the city has a history of revolutions - in 1849, 1918 and 1956 -
buildings, parks and avenues on a monumental scale, and a reputation for
hedonism, style and parochial pride. In short, Budapest is a city worthy
of comparison with other great European capitals.
Surveying Budapest from the embankments or the bastions of Várhegy (Castle
Hill), it's easy to see why the city was dubbed the "Pearl of the Danube".
Its grand buildings and sweeping bridges look magnificent, especially
when floodlit or illuminated by the barrage of fireworks that explode
above the Danube every August 20, St Stephen's Day. The eclectic inner-city
and radial boulevards combine brash commercialism with a fin-de-sičcle
sophistication, while a distinctively Magyar character is highlighted by
the sounds and appearance of the Hungarian language at every turn.
The River Danube - which is never blue - determines basic orientation ,
with Buda on the hilly west bank and Pest covering the plain across the
river. More precisely, Budapest is divided into 23 districts ( kerület
), designated on maps and street signs by Roman numerals; many quarters
also have a historic name. In Buda , the focus of attention is the I
district, comprising the Várhegy and the Víziváros (Watertown); the XI,
XII, II and III districts are worth visiting for Gellért-hegy, the Buda
Hills, Óbuda and Római-Fürdo. Pest is centred on the downtown Belváros
(V district), while beyond the Kiskörút (Small Boulevard) lie the VI,
VII, VIII and IX districts, respectively known as the Terézváros,
Erzsébetváros, Józsefváros and Ferencváros.
Danube Bend
To escape Budapest's humid summers, many people flock north
of the city to the Danube Bend ( Dunakanyar ), one of the grandest
stretches of the river, outdone only by the Kazan Gorge in Romania.
Entering the Carpathian Basin, the Danube widens dramatically, only to
be forced by hills and mountains through a narrow, twisting valley,
almost a U-turn - the "Bend" - before dividing for the length of
Szentendre Sziget and flowing into Budapest. The historic towns and
ruins of Szentendre, Esztergom and Visegrád on the west bank can be seen
on a long day-trip from Budapest, but it would be a shame not to linger
here and visit the quieter east side too, boasting the sedate town of
Vác, the gardens of Vácrátót and the charms of Nagymaros and Zebegény,
as well as the neighbouring Pilis and Börzsöny highlands, with
opportunities for hiking or horse-riding .
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga,
flowing 2857km from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. Between the
confluence of the Bereg and Briach streams at Donaueschingen and its
shifting delta on the Black Sea, the Danube is fed by over three hundred
tributaries from a catchment area of 816,000 square kilometres, and has
nine nations along its banks. Known as the Donau in Germany and Austria,
it becomes the Dunaj in Slovakia and then the Duna in Hungary before
taking a course through Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria as the Dunav,
Romania as the Dunarea and the Ukraine as the Dunay, forming the
frontier for much of the way. Used by armies and tribes since antiquity,
this "dustless highway" deeply impressed the German poet Hölderlin who
saw it as an allegory for the mythical voyage of the ancient German
forefathers to the Black Sea, and for Hercules' journey from Greece to
the land of the Hyperboreans. Attila Jószef described it as "cloudy,
wise and great", its waters from many lands as intermingled as the
peoples of the Carpathian Basin.
While the Danube's strategic value ended after World War II, economic
and environmental concerns came to the fore in the 1980s, when the
governments of Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia began to realize a
plan to dam the river between Gabcikovo and Nagymaros. The public
opposition that compelled Hungary to abandon the project was a milestone
along the road to democracy, mobilizing society in a way no overtly
political cause ever could have. In the early 1990s, Slovakia pressed
ahead and diverted the Danube on its own while Hungary was busy
demolishing the work it had begun at Nagymaros. The controversy
surrounding the project - with both countries pressing their claim that
the other must pay for breaking international law - has now subsided,
and the Hungarian government has insisted that there will be no dam.
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton , affectionately known to Hungarians as "Balcsi",
is the nation's substitute for a coastline. Millions of people come here
every summer to enjoy the lake's remarkably clean, milky green waters,
which, with an average depth of only 3m, are warm enough to swim in from
May to October. Though few would subscribe to the old romantic view of
Balaton as the "Hungarian sea", it is still the largest freshwater lake
in Europe - nearly 80km long and varying in width from 14km to a mere
1.5km at the point where the lake is almost cut in two by the Tihany
peninsula - and all that remains of the ancient Pannonian Sea that once
covered the region.
Balaton's low-lying southern shore is almost entirely built up with a
continuous chain of fairly indistinguishable resorts, with brash and
bustling Siófok the model for others, such as Fonyód further along. By
contrast, waterfront development on the northern shore has been limited
by reed beds and cooler, deeper water, and the attractions, such as the
beautiful Tihany peninsula and the wine-producing Badacsony Hills , are
of a less hedonistic bent, instead offering splendid scenery and
sightseeing. The compact western end is perhaps the most appealing part
of the lake, providing the setting for the delightful university town of
Keszthely , the world's second-largest thermal lake at nearby Hévíz and
the reedy Kis-Balaton nature reserve, home to a bison reserve and a
superb venue for bird-watching.
Though its history is hardly writ large, the region was first settled in
the Iron Age, and has been a wine-growing centre since Roman times.
During the sixteenth century, it formed the front line between Turkish
and Habsburg-ruled Hungary, with an Ottoman fleet based at Siófok and an
Austrian one at Balatonfüred. Spas and villas began to appear from 1765
onwards, but catered largely to the wealthy until the Communists began
promoting holidays for the masses after World War II. During the 1960s,
footloose youths started flocking here, and in the 1970s and 1980s there
was a boom in private holiday homes and room-letting, fuelled by an
influx of tourists from Germany and Austria. Today, visitors from these
two countries still provide the bulk of tourists, although an increasing
number of other foreigners are beginning to discover some of the
undoubted charms of the lake. If visiting, it's best to do so outside
July and August as this is the time when the natives descend upon the
lake in their masses.
Lake Balaton is easily accessible from Budapest and Transdanubia. Trains
from Budapest's Déli Station run to all the main resorts, with daily
InterCity services providing the fastest access to Keszthely (2hr 30min)
via the southern shore. Buses to Székesfehérvár, Veszprém and Balaton
leave from the Erzsébet tér depot. If you're driving to Balaton, the M7
to Siófok is the quickest road; to get to the northern shore, turn off
the M7 onto Route 71 for Balatonfüred. Over summer, however, you can
expect long tailbacks on the M7 on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings,
and also on the way back to Budapest on Sunday evenings.
A great way to see - and get around - the lake is by ferry. From mid-April
to October, passenger ferries run from Siófok to Balatonfüred and Tihany
on the opposite bank, and between Fonyód and Badascony. During July and
August, a number of other services shuttle back and forth across the
lake connecting the smaller resorts. Between March and November, there
is also a car ferry between Tihany-rév and Szántódrév.
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