Budapesht. That's how it's properly pronounced. Otherwise you're distinguished as an ignorant tourist... although the locals will never tell you that to your face.
Previously two cities (technically three), Budapest was officially combined into one in 1873, with a lone bridge built 30 years prior - linking the two across the Danube. Mounted on a hill, Buda is a quieter and more refined area west of the river. The flat land lying opposite the river lies the more happening Pest side.
Today many bridges link the two sides. The oldest (although destroyed during the war and reconstructed) and most intricate being the Chain Bridge. It provides direct access to Castle Hill on the Buda side, and is visually stunning.
My favorite, however, is the shortest of the lot. Reminiscent of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the Liberty, or Freedom, Bridge is a green chain-type structure built in 1896 for the Millennium World Exhibition. It too was destroyed during the war, and reconstructed with the added aesthetic (and practical) appeal of yellow retro-trams riding across it.
* I'm on the road and just realized I didn't place all my photos of Hungary on my external hard drive. Which, coincidentally, makes you all the luckier... because I could never have created such stunning shots - being PhotoShop inept and all.
Previously two cities (technically three), Budapest was officially combined into one in 1873, with a lone bridge built 30 years prior - linking the two across the Danube. Mounted on a hill, Buda is a quieter and more refined area west of the river. The flat land lying opposite the river lies the more happening Pest side.
Today many bridges link the two sides. The oldest (although destroyed during the war and reconstructed) and most intricate being the Chain Bridge. It provides direct access to Castle Hill on the Buda side, and is visually stunning.
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| Photo Credit * |
My favorite, however, is the shortest of the lot. Reminiscent of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the Liberty, or Freedom, Bridge is a green chain-type structure built in 1896 for the Millennium World Exhibition. It too was destroyed during the war, and reconstructed with the added aesthetic (and practical) appeal of yellow retro-trams riding across it.
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| Photo Credit |
1 comment:
It's pretty amazing to think of all the reconstruction that had to happen after the war, in so many places.
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