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Hotels in Budapest
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Budapest
Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and the country's principal
political, cultural, commercial, industrial and transportation center.
Budapest has over 1.7 million inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s peak of
2.1 million. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the
river Danube with the amalgamation in 1873 of right-bank Buda (Ofen in
German) and Óbuda (Old Buda or Alt-Ofen) together with Pest on the left
(east) bank. It is the sixth largest city in the European Union.
History
Budapest's recorded history begins with the Roman town of Aquincum,
founded around 89 AD on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement near
what was to become Óbuda, and from 106 until the end of the 4th century
the capital of the province of lower Pannonia. Aquincum was the base
camp of Legio II Adiutrix. The area of Campona (today's Nagytétény)
belongs to Buda as well. Today's Pest became the site of Contra Aquincum
(or Trans Aquincum), a smaller sentry point. The word Pest (or Peshta)
is thought to originate from the Bolgar language, (a Turkic language,
not related to modern Bulgarian, which is a Slavic language) because at
the time of the reign of the Bulgarian Khan Krum, the town was under
Bulgar Turk dominion. The area then became a homeland for the Avars and
some Slavic peoples.
The area was occupied around the year 900 by the Magyars of Central
Asia, the cultural and linguistic ancestors of today's ethnic
Hungarians, who a century later officially founded the Kingdom of
Hungary. Already a place of some significance, Pest recovered rapidly
from its destruction by Mongol invaders in 1241, but it was Buda, the
seat of a royal castle since 1247, which in 1361 became the capital of
Hungary. The Croats who have been in personal union with the Hungarian
Crown for centuries and also accepted Budapest as their capital, still
call this city Budimpešta (Croatian Budim for Buda and Pešta for Pest).
The Ottoman Empire's conquest of most of Hungary in the 16th century
interrupted the cities' growth: Buda and Pest fell to the invaders in
1541. While Buda remained the seat of a Turkish pasha, and
administrative center of a whole vilayet, Pest was largely derelict by
the time of their recapture in 1686 by Austria's Habsburg rulers, who
since 1526 had been Kings of Hungary despite their loss of most of the
country.
It was Pest, a bustling commercial town, which enjoyed the faster growth
rate in the 18th and 19th century and contributed the overwhelming
majority of the cities' combined growth in the 19th. By 1800 its
population was larger than that of Buda and Óbuda combined. The
population of Pest grew twentyfold in the following century to 600,000,
while that of Buda and Óbuda quintupled.
The fusion of the three cities under a single administration, first
enacted by the Hungarian revolutionary government in 1849 but revoked on
the subsequent restoration of Habsburg authority, was finally effected
by the autonomous Hungarian royal government established under the
Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich ("Compromise") of 1867; see Austria-Hungary.
The total population of the unified capital grew nearly sevenfold in
1840–1900 to 730,000.
During the 20th century, most population growth occurred in the suburbs,
with Újpest more than doubling between 1890–1910 and Kispest more than
quintupling in 1900–1920, as much of the country's industry came to be
concentrated in the city. The country's human losses during World War I
and the subsequent loss of more than two thirds of the former kingdom's
territory (1920) dealt only a temporary blow, leaving Budapest as the
capital of a smaller but now sovereign state. By 1930 the city proper
contained a million inhabitants, with a further 400,000 in the suburbs.
Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants
died through Nazi and Arrow Cross genocide during 1944 and early 1945.
[1], [2] Despite this, Budapest today has the highest number of Jewish
citizens per capita of any European city.
On January 1, 1950, the area of Budapest was significantly expanded: new
districts were formed from the neighbouring cities and towns (see
Great-Budapest). From the severe damage during the Soviet siege in 1944,
the city recovered in the 1950s and 1960s, becoming to some extent a
showcase for the more pragmatic policies pursued by the country's
communist government (1947–1989) from the 1960s. Since the 1980s, the
capital has shared with the country as a whole in increased emigration
coupled with natural population decrease.
Airport
Budapest Ferihegy International Airport, which has 3 different passenger
terminals: Ferihegy 1, Ferihegy 2/A and Ferihegy 2/B. The airport is
located to the east of the centre in the XVIII. district in
Pestszentlőrinc.
Roads
Budapest is the most important Hungarian road terminus; all the major
highways end there. Between 1990-1994, the city street names were
reverted back to their late 19th century names, which were changed under
the Soviet occupation. Budapest is also a major railway terminus.
Railway
Hungarian main-line railways are operated by MÁV. There are three main
railway termini in Budapest, Keleti (eastern), Nyugati (western), and
Déli (southern), operating both domestic and international rail
services. Budapest was one of the main stops of the Orient Express until
2001, when the service was cut back to Paris-Vienna.
There is also a suburban rail service in and around Budapest, operated
under the name HÉV.
Subway
The Budapest Subway system is the second oldest subway in Europe (after
the London Underground). The original subway line is now the M1 or
Yellow line. It was fully restored to its original condition, for a
historical ride. Two other lines, the M2 (red) and M3 (blue), were built
later and serve other parts of the city. The M4 is currently under
construction and the M5 is expected to be started in 2007. Both lines M2
and M4 will be fully automated and operate without drivers. The Budapest
Subway was the scene of the 2004 film Kontroll.
Waterways
The river Danube flows through Budapest on its way to the Black Sea. The
river is easily navigatable and so Budapest has historically been a
major commercial port (at Csepel).
Special vehicles
Beside metros, suburban rails, buses, trams and boats, there are a
couple of less usual vehicles in Budapest:
- trolleybus (trolibusz) on several lines in Pest
- funicular (sikló) between the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle
- cycle-car (bringóhintó) for rent in Margaret Island
- chairlift (libegő)
- cog-wheel railway (fogaskerekű vasút)
- children's railway (gyermekvasút)
The latter three vehicles run among Buda hills.
Wikipedia.org
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