Budapest, the capital of Hungary Most of our visitors say that Budapest is one of the nicest and most beautifully situated cities of the world. It is called “The pearl of the Danube”. The powerful current of the river divides it into two parts, the hilly Buda side with nice villas and woods, and the flat Pest side with the downtown. The Danube, flowing through the centre of the city, the nice hills of Buda, and the beautiful architecture reflecting various periods of our history, all offer one of the uniquely beautiful panoramas of the world. The medieval Castle District with the former Royal Palace, the Gothic Matthias Church with the Fishermen’s Bastion, the Gellért Hill with the Liberty Statue and the Citadel, the Gellért Bath on Buda side, the Chain Bridge which is one of the symbols of Budapest, and one of the most beautiful parliament buildings of the world with the holy crown of the Hungarian kings, the Hungarian Academy of Science, the Gresham Palace, and the famous Andrássy Avenue with the Neo-Renaissance Opera House, the first Underground on the continent, and the Heroes’ Square on Pest, belong to the World Heritage. But it’s also worth visiting the St Stephen Cathedral, Margaret Island, which is one of the nicest parks in Europe, the healing thermal baths (just about 30), the Central Market Hall, or few of the old restaurants and cafés such as the famous Gerbeaud, or just walking along the bank of the river, or along the Váci street, the pedestrian area, and watching the amazing buildings and views, is also a good idea. (You can enjoy this beautiful city on almost all our Bike Tours)
Charming antique towns There are lot of beautiful historic towns in Hungary, where are worth taking a walk to enjoy their narrow streets with their colourful Baroque houses which all have their story, and their lovely restaurants and cafés or souvenir shops... Just a few of the nicest ones: Budapest - our capital - “the pearl of the Danube”, Győr - “the town of rivers” at the confluence of the Danube and Rába, Sopron with its Roman city walls, Kőszeg - “a treasure-box at the foothills of the Alps”, Eger - “the Baroque jewel”, Sárospatak - a headquarter of the medieval education of Hungary with a famous castle, Pécs - a capital of culture, Keszthely with the Festetics Palace, or Szentendre with its Mediterranean atmosphere...
Benedictine Monastery of Pannonhalma The history of this Abbey is as old as the history of Hungary itself. The building, with some of the nicest masterpieces of the Hungarian architecture, a late Romanesque - early Gothic basilica, a late Gothic cloister from the time of King Matthias, and a Neoclassical library, is open for visitors. Soon after the pagan Hungarian tribes occupied the Carpathian Basin, Prince Géza, and his son St Stephen, our first king and the founder of our state, recognised that the Hungarian people could survive in Europe only if they created a solid feudal state, and adopted Christianity. In 996 Géza settled Benedictine monks on the Sacred Hill of Pannonia, and the monastery overtook the task of propagating Christian religion and European culture in Hungary. There are about fifty monks in the Archabbey who follow the rules of St Benedict, and the community makes its living by their work. They run one of the best schools of the country for more than 300 students, and they make fine wines and various herbal products. They have excellent guided tours to introduce their life and their treasures from various times of our history. The monastery became part of the World Heritage when it was 1000 years old in 1996, and part of our Best selection of the Danube in Hungary tour in 2008 when it was very new...
Early Christian Cemetery in Pécs Pécs (Sopianae) is a significant cultural centre of the country with its theaters, museums and festivals. The town is situated in South Hungary, at the foot of the Mecsek mountains, with a real Mediterranean atmosphere owing to its climate, and narrow streets. Sopianae was founded by the Romans in the 2nd century, and became a provincial capital and centre of early Christianity by the 4th century. Our first king St Stephen founded an episcopate here in 1009, and the first university of Hungary started to operate here in 1367. The most interesting sights are here the beautiful cathedral, the remains of the early Christian tombs and small chapels, Turkish mosques from the 150 years Turkish occupation, the museum of the famous Zsolnay Porcelain Factory, and exhibitions of well-known Hungarian painters, Victor Vasarely or Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka, are also worth visiting. The Christian tombs are part of the World Heritage, and you can see them and this lovely town on our Mansions and Wines in South Hungary tour.
Castle hotels, medieval castles
There are lots of beautiful small castle hotels and mansions in Hungary with a rather unique and antique atmosphere, surrounded by wonderful parks. Often it is a question whether the ancient trees in their park, or the castles are older.. Throughout the 1000-year history of Hungary there were plenty of famous fortifications, castles or splendid palaces built all around these countries. Many of them have been renovated very nicely, and they are valuable representatives of the Hungarian architecture from different times. Many of the medieval castles are situated on the top of the hills in picturesque areas, and you can enjoy a breathtaking view from them (at Visegrád, Sümeg or Füzér), and many of them have interesting stories and museums (Eger, Kőszeg, Tata, or Sárospatak). It is also worth visiting the wonderful Baroque palaces of our prominent noble families, such as the Eszterházy, Festetics, Rákóczi, and Széchenyi, with their interesting exhibitions. You can learn a lot about the famous Hungarian inventions in one of them... (Did you know that the first carburettor, electric dynamo, ball-point pen, computer, telephone-centre, hologram, and plenty of other things were invented by Hungarian people? Many of them, like Albert Szentgyörgyi, for discovering vitamin C, have won the Noble price!) We stay in and visit many of these lovely castles on all our Bike Tours...
Interesting Museums
The palette where you can learn about our history, traditions, culture and the life of the local people, or the flora and fauna - is rather colourful. The world famous Herend Porcelain Manufacture, crystal workshops, potteries with their wonderful hand-made products, collections of the beautiful Hungarian folk art hand-embroidery, the Benedictine Monasteries of Pannonhalma and Tihany, where you can see the oldest written documents with Hungarian words from 1055, our Romanesque churches, wonderfully decorated cathedrals, or small village churches, with the first Bible printed in Hungarian in one of them in 1590, 300 years old watermills, village museums in traditional old village houses, a horse carriage, an iron-curtain, or a white stork museum... the list is rather long... So, it’s easier if you come and see them on our Bike Tours.
