Budapest III

The city of Budapest was created in the late 1870's by joining the two cities of Buda and Pest, each occupying a side of the Danube, into one metropolis. (I suspect this was inspired by the celebrated union of Osh and Kosh in Wisconsin.) The river dominates the city with Pest on rive gauche. On the other side Buda castle, seat of the Kings of Hungary, looms on one side of a long narrow mesa, nearly a kilometer in length. The hill is nearly a city unto itself with buildings from various periods in its long history. In one building near the castle a plaque proclaims that Beethoven once made a concert appearance there. The Soviet Stalinist regime gutted the Palace itself in the 1950's but it has since been restored. The view of the Pest side and the river is magnificent. Even Vienna doesn't offer anything like it as there are no hills in the city. Oddly, Vienna, which celebrates the Danube, has its back turned to the mighty stream. In Budapest it takes center stage. There are several islands in the river and five important bridges. The Germans blew up every one of them, but they have all been rebuilt. The most famous and a landmark of the city is the Chain Bridge. It is an imposing span.