Budapest

Budapest. The name is evocative of a distant place, exotic, ephemeral, elusive. What is it? Where is it, exactly? The 2,000 year-old city of 1.7 million people is the capital of Hungary; it is, in many ways, the very heart of Europe. Five years ago, my wife and I booked a trip to Europe that began in the fairy-tale city of Prague, in the Czech Republic, before shuttling over to Germany for a riverboat cruise down the storied Danube River to beautiful Vienna. One could continue the cruise downstream to Budapest. 

"I don't know much about it," my wife said. But I did. I knew it would be the perfect finish to our romantic expedition. 

As a budding young history geek and aspiring world traveler, I discovered Budapest in the pages of National Geographic. Raised in the midst of the Cold War, I had known precious little about the primarily Slavic lands in the far shadows behind the Iron Curtain. Russians were Slavs after all. Eastern Bloc nations were darkly mysterious, as forbidding as Mordor.

 

Buda Castle high on Gellert Hill

The historical truth is that the majority of the Hungarian people are ethnically Magyars, neither Germanic nor Slavic.The broad, fertile valley on the southward thrust of the Danube River that is the core of the Hungarian nation is the crossroads of Central Europe.The Romans established an outpost here on the northern edge of their empire to take advantage of the river, the agriculture and to enjoy the natural springs. Romans loved their baths. The original Roman town on the hilly western shore of the Danube came to be known as "Buda" after a later Hungarian lord. The kings and lords of central Europe would rule from their castle perched high above the beautiful blue Danube.

Across the Danube on its eastern shore, Hungary falls away in wide, flat plain. In the midst of the "Dark Ages," a small fishing village across from hilly, noble Buda grew into a blue collar trading and industrial town for the common citizens. It came to be known as Pest. 

Houses of Parliament on the Pest shore of the Danube

 After revolutions in the 1840's rattled the Austrian Hapsburg lords of Hungary, a small amount of self-governance was granted to the people of Hungary. After centuries of domination by those German-speaking masters from Vienna, a parliament was created in the commoners' capital of Pest..

Buda Castle rises high above the Chain Bridge on the Danube River

After the Houses of Parliament were built, the Hapsburgs built the Chain Bridge to unite patrician Buda and plebeian Pest; they were united as one capital, Budapest, in 1873.

The city, the culture and the people of Budapest proved to be a dynamic, fascinating and rewarding conclusion to our vacation that year. Centuries of commerce, the blending of Germanic, Turkic, Magyar, Slavic and a dash of Italian influences have made Budapest a cross-cultural wonderland. The communist yoke has been broken for two decades, leaving a vibrant, evolving and expanding economy with unlimited potential and a scintillating energy. We thrilled at the evidence of capitalism sprouting from the corpse of communism, technology transforming society in a cultural evolution which blended old and new while maintaining respect for history and the integrity of their cultural traditions. We hated to leave.

Our most exciting vacations have been rewarding immersions into foreign lands where we embraced exotic cultures, and created memories for a lifetime. As my wife and I prepare for another vacation that will tick off more destinations from our bucket lists, we are tantalized by the lure of the unknown and the thrill of potentially life-changing rewards. I like to think of it as the spirit of Budapest.

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