An unusual route through a completely different Budapest
Most tourists, finding themselves on Buda Hill, walk along the central street filled with restaurants and people. I will take you through cozy, quiet streets with two-story residential buildings - on every second there is a sign “ancient monument”. There are numerous monuments and statues here - I will talk about the stories and anecdotes associated with them, as well as the importance of this area to the city.

The main thing in Buda and about it
Admiring the decoration of the late Gothic Church of St. Matthias, you will learn about the great deeds of the king, after whom the church is named. Afterwards, look at the facades of the Royal Palace, the Budapest Trevi Fountain, representing a hunting scene, and the modest Sándor Palace - the home of the President of the Republic, and I will talk about the emergence and development of the residence of the Hungarian kings. And of course, you will find yourself at the romantic Fisherman’s Bastion, learn about the symbolism of its towers, admire the view of Pest and photograph the Parliament from one of the best angles. Panoramas await you at the non-tourist observation deck, from where you can see the whole of Buda.

Who is the excursion suitable for?

Organizational details

Meeting point in the center by agreement. From there we will get to the fortress by bus without transfers.

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Book a tour on any of the available days on the calendar

• This is a private tour in Russian, the guide will conduct it for you and your company.
• On the site you pay 23% of the cost, and the rest of the money goes to the guide on the spot. You can

Dear visitors of EtoRetro.ru, you have a collection old photographs of the city of Buda? Join us, publish your photos, rate and comment on the photos of other participants. If you recognize a place in an old photograph, an address, or recognize the people in the photo, please provide this information in the comments. Project participants, as well as ordinary visitors, will be grateful to you.

Our members have the opportunity to download old photographs in original quality (large size) without the project logo.

What is retro photography, or how old should it be?

What can be considered an old photograph worthy of publication on our project? These are absolutely any photos, starting from the invention of photography (the history of photography begins in 1839) and ending with the end of the last century, everything that is now considered history. And to be specific, this is:

• photographs of Buda from the mid and late 19th century (usually from the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s) - the so-called. very old photographs (you can also call them antique);
• Soviet photography (photos from the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, early 90s);
• pre-revolutionary photography of Buda (before 1917);
• military retro photographs - or photos from war times - this includes the First World War (1914-1918), the Civil War (1917-1922/1923), the Second World War (1939-1945) or in relation to our Motherland - the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) , or WWII;

What should be captured in the photo?

Anything, be it streets, buildings, houses, squares, bridges and other architectural structures. This could be another type of transport of the past, from carts. These are the people (men, women and children) who lived during those times (including old family photographs). All this is of value and great interest to EtoRetro.ru visitors.

Collages, vintage postcards, posters, vintage maps?
We also welcome both series of photographs (using the ability to upload several photographs in one publication) and collages (an elaborate combination of different photographs, usually of the same place using some kind of graphic editor) - type - was/has become, one way or another immersing you in a kind of time travel, reflecting a look into the past. Also a place on the project and

Probably the most memorable thing in the Hungarian capital, besides the thermal pools, is Buda. That is, the area of ​​Budapest that was previously an independent city and the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary.

We made our way there after the first day spent in and To get to Buda from Magritte Island you need to go through the “Turkish Quarter”. And it was very noticeable in this area of ​​Budapest that the city was once ruled by the Turks. There are traces of Muslim presence here.

A few facts from the history of Hungary

The Turks conquered Hungary in 1526. We generally consider them to be barbarians who mercilessly oppressed the local (conquered) population, but everything was not quite like that.

During the conquest of Hungary, many peasants greeted the Turks as liberators, hoping that they would help cope with the oppression of local feudal lords. So Hungary became an occupied province of the Ottoman Empire, its rulers were now appointed from Istanbul. They did not oppress the peasants much, and there was no religious persecution either.

But it was from this moment that the decline of Hungary began; it turned from an independent state into a province, first of the Turks, then of the Austrians, and then smoothly passed under the rule of the USSR. There, as the famous Hungarian director Istvan Szabo says: “Hungary was occupied not for 40 years, but for 400.”

And it all started very well for Hungary. After the Huns, the Magyars came to the country. These were fierce warriors - they terrified neighboring countries. Actually, Germany united for the first time precisely in order to resist them.

From the beginning, the Hungarian kings sat in the palace in Buda: Bela, Istvan, Matt, but in the end, feudal relations, backward for that time, did not allow the creation of a strong army. And as a result, the Turkish khan, and this was Suleiman the Magnificent, under whom the Ottoman Empire reached its peak, captured the capital of Hungary, Buda.

Historical Museum of Buda

You can see how the Hungarians lived before the conquest of the Turks in the Budapest Historical Museum. The most interesting thing about the museum is that it is located in Buda Castle, and here you can walk around alone and feel the atmosphere of a medieval citadel.

I was very impressed with the coronation cloak of the kings. It is very similar to Dracula's cloak in the film of the same name.

On the upper floors of the museum, there is an exhibition telling about the peoples who lived in this territory before the Hungarians. There is a lot of evidence about the Huns here. After all, Attila’s headquarters was located on the territory of this country.

You can listen in more detail about the golden ages of Hungary here:

The plague epidemic spared the country because it was still relatively sparsely populated. As a result, while the countries of Western Europe were in decline in the 2nd half of the 14th century, there was a rise in Eastern Europe. It was then that the main attractions of Buda were built: Buda Castle and St. Matthias Cathedral.

Here is another beautiful and colorful building - the Fisherman's Bastion - which cannot boast of such a venerable age. It was built already in the 19th century, purely for beauty.

In the end, we got to Buda itself late and didn’t have time to go to the museum. We couldn’t see the cathedral, so we had to go there again the next day.

Buda, like the rest of Hungary, was liberated from the Ottoman Empire by the Austrians in the 18th century and came under Habsburg rule. Perhaps this is why modern Buda is so reminiscent of provincial Austrian towns. This area is also very lively and does not give the impression of a historical reserve.

Budapest is the capital and largest city of Hungary, as well as its economic, political, industrial and cultural center.

Origin of the city

Officially, the Hungarian city of Budapest was formed as a single administrative unit only in 1873 after the merger of three cities - Buda, Obuda and Pest. The history of the city begins in the 1st century BC. from the Celtic settlement of Ak-Ink on the right bank of the Danube. After the occupation of the Danube lands by the Romans, the city became part of the province of Pannonia and was eventually renamed Aquincum. Originally a military garrison, the city grew and developed rapidly and very quickly became a major commercial center. The ruins of ancient Aquincus have survived to this day and today are one of the largest archaeological sites of the Roman era in Hungary.

In the mid-5th century, Aquincus was conquered by the Huns and renamed. According to one of the local legends, the city received the name “Buda” in honor of the Hun leader Bleda (Hungarian: Buda). Subsequently, the city was alternately under the control of German tribes, Lombards, Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians. The Hungarians settled in these lands only towards the end of the 9th century. The settlement of Pest on the opposite bank of the Danube already existed by this time.

Middle Ages

In 1241-1242 As a result of the Mongol invasion, Buda and Pest were thoroughly destroyed and plundered. Pest was soon restored, but Buda, which was assigned the role of a royal residence, was decided to be built on nearby hills and thoroughly fortified. However, the old Buda was also restored over time and the name “Obuda” was assigned to it. In 1361, Buda became the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, while Pest became a prosperous financial center.

By the mid-16th century, the lands of Buda and Pest were captured by the Ottoman Empire. The occupation lasted 145 years and only in 1686 Buda, Óbuda and Pest were liberated by Austrian troops, ending up under the control of the Habsburg Empire.

New time

The 19th century became an important page in the history of the Hungarian Kingdom's struggle for independence. During the democratic revolution of 1848-49. the first attempt was made to unite Buda, Óbuda and Pest (during the same period, the first bridge across the Danube was built, finally connecting Buda and Pest). The revolution was eventually suppressed, but its consequence was the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. Soon the question of the unification of the three cities was raised again, which took place in 1873. Budapest quickly became a major political, economic and cultural center. The city did not escape the industrial boom that swept virtually all of Europe. In 1896, the first metro on the European continent was opened in Budapest.

In 1918, after defeat in the First World War and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary declared itself a republic, the capital of which was Budapest, retaining this status even after the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in Hungary in 1920.

During World War II, Budapest was completely destroyed. The city was seriously damaged in 1956, becoming the epicenter of the anti-communist uprising. It took more than a decade to restore Budapest. During this period, the city significantly expanded its borders, turning into a huge metropolis.

The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 largely determined the future fate of Budapest and became a kind of starting point on the path to the city’s emergence as a major cultural and economic center of Europe.

What to see in Budapest. Attractions. Walk through the old town of Buda. Report on an independent trip to Hungary

Key words: Sights of Budapest, tourist routes, Excursions in Budapest, what to see, reviews of the trip.

Literally every European capital has its own “old town” - usually a small part of the city center that has been preserved in its original form. Well, or almost pristine. And, as a rule, it is the Old Town that attracts tourists. I will say more - often a simple tourist does not even lean beyond the old fortress walls and sees the rest of the city only briefly from the window of a taxi or bus on the way from the airport and back. At best, you can get a general idea of ​​the rest of a particular capital by taking a ride on the Hop-On-Hop-Off sightseeing buses. In general, by and large, tourists have nothing to do outside the Old Town: administrative districts, business center and residential areas. Nothing interesting, “everything is the same as everywhere else.” Take Prague, for example. Well, honestly, further than 500 meters from the Charles Bridge on both sides of the Vltava there is nothing to see. What about Prague, in Riga and Tallinn, outside the Old Town, which can be walked around in a couple of hours, it’s better not to go out at all - you want to cry. Budapest is another matter! There are two whole Old Towns here! And if the historical part of Pest has a rather modern appearance, then on the opposite bank of the Danube, in Buda, there is the most amazing Old Town with classic medieval houses, palaces and cathedrals.

The introduction was quite long, but the content will, alas, be short. Usually Old Town makes an indelible impression and you want to wander endlessly through the narrow streets. But not in Old Buda... You can deprive me of the title of “Honorary Tourist”, but the historical center of Buda did not make the proper impression on me. And I even know why. This part of Budapest does not shine with any remarkable and special architecture, but, it seems to me, a lot of historical events took place here. And if we had agreed on a tour of Buda and the Old Town, then it would have been a completely different story... But, alas, when we “woke up the day before” all the guides were already busy. So I had to walk around the old town on my own.

Old Buda is a very small part of modern Budapest, located on the top of Buda Hill directly opposite (across the Danube) Pest. Tourists usually get to Buda by cable car, which goes to the top of the hill exactly from kilometer zero. But the most desperate tourists, of course, climb the hill exclusively on foot. Honestly, this is not a big problem, it’s not so difficult to overcome a hundred meters, in my opinion, even the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa looks more ominous for an unprepared tourist :) And the views from the path make you forget about slightly increased physical activity.

Queue for funicular tickets

But you have to overcome “just nothing”...

The bravest ones :)

Five minutes with stops to explore the views and you are almost there. The sculpture of an eagle with spread wings eloquently communicates that you are already at the walls of the Royal Palace

From here you can clearly see the Parliament on the opposite bank of the Danube

A little further away you can clearly see the entire coast and the panorama of Pest (photo can be enlarged)

Like any self-respecting country with history, Budapest has its own guard of honor, which serves at the walls of the Royal Palace. I will not show you postcard photos of the changing of the guard; rather, on the contrary, I will show you a couple of photos from “everyday life”. These guys must have nerves of steel! Tourists from China are indeed becoming the number one problem around the world. Even the Russian Tagil already pales in comparison to the Chinese impudence. This Chinese “photo artist” and his family alone pestered the soldiers for fifteen to twenty minutes. Honestly, I wanted to throw a couple of live rounds at the guys...

Several "sketches" from Old Buda

And, of course, the main attraction of the old town is St. Matthias Church. The building is simply stunning, and the roof is simply a masterpiece - covered with tiles from the famous Zsolnai Pech factory (photo can be enlarged):