Pearl of the Danube Budapest [antikvár]

Today, Budapest is a city of two millión inhabitants situated in the middle of Europe, in that it is roughly halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains. For 2000 years there have been settlements in the area presently occupied by Budapest, but only in 1873 were these united as the Hungárián capital. At that time the country was three times the size it is now, although, as the eastern half of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, it was not fully independent. The Car-pathian Basin is divided by the River Danube into a hilly and undulating western part and a mainly fiat eastern one. The southeastern corner of the Carpathian Basin marked the furthest point of penetration achieved by Western culture, Gothic architecture and the Reformation. Further east was the world of Byzantium, the western limit of which is Budapest. The Danube alsó divides Hungary culturally, including Buda and Pest: the character of Pest people differs from that of Buda residents. Visitors to the city sometimes feel that they are travelling in time when they walk the streets and squares of Buda and Pest. This illustrated guide will perhaps help visitors remember the things they have seen.