Margaret Island

Margaret Island is a 2.5 km long island, 500 meters (550 yards) wide, in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. It belongs administratively to the 13th district. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its importance in the Middle Ages as a religious center. The island spans the area between the Margaret Bridge (south) and the Árpád Bridge (north).

Today's appearance was developed through the connection of three separate islands, the Festő, the Fürdő and the Nyulak, during the end of the 19th century, to control the flow of the Danube. Originally, the island was 102.5 meters above sea level, but now has been built up to 104.85 meters above sea level to control flooding.

The island was called Nyulak szigete (English: Island of the Rabbits) in the Middle Ages, and it received its current name after Saint Margaret (1242–1270), the daughter of Béla IV of Hungary who lived in the Dominican convent on the island. Other names of the island were Nagyboldogasszony-sziget, Úr-sziget, Budai-sziget, Dunai-sziget, Nádor-sziget, Palatinus-sziget during different periods of its history. 

The Knights of St. John settled on the island in the 12th century. Among the present historical monuments of the island are the 13th century ruins of a Franciscan church and a Dominican church and convent, as well as a Premonstratensian church from the 12th century. Members of the Augustinian order also lived on the island.

The island was dominated by nunneries, churches and cloisters until the 16th century. During the Ottoman wars the monks and nuns fled and the buildings were destroyed. In the 18th century it was chosen to be the resort of palatines. It was declared a public garden in 1908.

Since the 1980s, entry by cars has been limited to special cases; only a single bus line and taxis, alongside the service traffic of local stores and restaurants are allowed to enter. On the northern end of the island a car park houses the cars of hotel guests.

A lots of tour guide bring tourist to the Margaraet island, but not the all offer video guided tours. If you have time you must try it out. After a long day you should stay somewhere, we recommend an apartment of Budapest.

History of Budapest

Budapest's recorded history begins with the Roman town of Aquincum, founded around AD 89 on the site of an earlier Celtic settlement near what was to become Óbuda, and from 106 until the end of the 4th century the capital of the province of lower Pannonia. Aquincum was the base camp of Legio II Adiutrix. The area of Campona (today's Nagytétény) belongs to Buda as well. Today's Pest became the site of Contra Aquincum (or Trans Aquincum), a smaller sentry point. The word Pest (or Peshta) is thought to originate from the Bolgar language, (thought to be a Turkic language, not related to modern Bulgarian, which is a Slavic language) because at the time of the reign of the Bulgarian Khan Krum (approximately 796-814), the town was under Bulgar dominion. The area then became a homeland for the Avars and some Slavic peoples.

The area was occupied around the year 900 by the Magyars of Central Asia, the cultural and linguistic ancestors of today's ethnic Hungarians, who a century later officially founded the Kingdom of Hungary. Already a place of some significance, Pest recovered rapidly from its destruction by Mongol invaders in 1241, but it was Buda, the seat of a royal castle since 1247, which in 1361 became the capital of Hungary.

Matthias Corvinus was 15 when he was elected King of Hungary. Matthias was educated in Italian, and his fascination with the achievements of the Italian Renaissance led to the promotion of Mediterranean cultural influences in Hungary. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second only in size to the Vatican Library.

The Ottoman Empire's conquest of most of Hungary in the 16th century interrupted the cities' growth: Buda and Pest fell to the invaders in 1541. While Buda remained the seat of a Turkish pasha, and administrative center of a whole vilayet, Pest was largely derelict by the time of their recapture in 1686 by Austria's Habsburg rulers, who since 1526 had been Kings of Hungary despite their loss of most of the country.

It was Pest, a bustling commercial town, which enjoyed the faster growth rate in the 18th and 19th century and contributed the overwhelming majority of the cities' combined growth in the 19th. By 1800 its population was larger than that of Buda and Óbuda combined. The population of Pest grew twenty-fold in the following century to 600,000, while that of Buda and Óbuda quintupled. The fusion of the three cities under a single administration, first enacted by the Hungarian revolutionary government in 1849 but revoked on the subsequent restoration of Habsburg authority, was finally effected by the autonomous Hungarian royal government established under the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich ("Compromise") of 1867; see Austria-Hungary. The total population of the unified capital grew nearly sevenfold in 1840–1900 to 730,000.

During the 20th century, most population growth occurred in the suburbs, with Újpest more than doubling between 1890–1910 and Kispest more than quintupling in 1900–1920, as much of the country's industry came to be concentrated in the city. The country's human losses during World War I and the subsequent loss of more than two thirds of the former kingdom's territory (1920) dealt only a temporary blow, leaving Budapest as the capital of a smaller but now sovereign state. By 1930 the city proper contained a million inhabitants, with a further 400,000 in the suburbs.

Towards the end of World War II in 1944 Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids. The following siege lasted from December 24 1944 to February 13 1945, and major damage was caused by the attacking Soviet and defending German and Hungarian troops. All bridges were disrupted by the Germans. More than 38,000 civilians lost their lives during the fighting. Between 20% and 40% of Greater Budapest's 250,000 Jewish inhabitants died through Nazi and Arrow Cross genocide during 1944 and early 1945. [1], [2] Despite this, Budapest today has the highest number of Jewish citizens per capita of any European city.

On January 1, 1950, the area of Budapest was significantly expanded: new districts were formed from the neighbouring cities and towns (see Greater Budapest). From the severe damage during the Soviet siege in 1944, the city recovered in the 1950s and 1960s, becoming to some extent a showcase for the more pragmatic policies pursued by the country's communist government (1947–1989) from the 1960s. Since the 1980s, the capital has shared with the country as a whole in increased emigration (mostly to the agglomeration) coupled with natural population decrease.

Budapest transports

The simple way to sightseeing Budapest is using the public transportation. The network is really efficent. There are 3 metro line and over 30 tram lines. The most scenic tram route is the one that does the tram number two. It runs along the Danube river just in front of the Parliament and the Chain Bridge. Instead the most spectacular metro line is the yellow one that is the oldest metro in the European Continent apart from the one of London. From the three main rail station: Nyugati pályaudvar, Keleti pályaudvar, Déli pályaudvar is easy to reach all the others famous city in Hungary. Let's start your trip Hungary from Budapest!

Holocaust Memorial

This sculpture of a weeping willow, designed by Imre Varga, was unveiled in 1991 in memory of the 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II. It was partly funded by the Hungarian-American actor Tony Curtis. religion. The Jewish community became well integrated into Hungarian society, until in 1941, a series of Nazi anti- Semitic laws were passed and the wearing of the Star of David was made compulsory. In 1944, a ghetto was created in Pest and the deportation of thousands of Jews to camps, including Auschwitz, was implemented. After heavy fighting between the Russian and German armies, the Soviet Red Army liberated the ghetto on 18 January 1945. In total, 600,000 Hungarian Jews were victims of the Holocaust. This fact is commemorated by a plaque at the Orthodox Synagogue on Rumbach utca in Budapest tours. In the late 19th century, three synagogues were built and many Jewish shops and workshops were established. Kosher establishments, such as the Hanna Étterem (see p197) in the courtyard of the Orthodox Synagogue, and the butcher at No. 41 Kazinczy utca, were a common feature. Shops are now being reconstructed to recreate the pre-ghetto character of the Jewish Quarter.

Travelling from Budapest

Travelling by coach

Budapest has one international coach station, called Népliget, which can easily be accessed by the M3 metro line. There are three national coach stations: Népliget (to Western Hungary), Népstadion (the People’s Stadium, to Eastern Hungary), and Árpád Bridge (to Northern Hungary and the Danube Bend). Népstadion station can be reached by the M2 metro line, while Árpád Bridge is served by the M3 line. The international routes are served by luxury coaches, which have all the usual facilities. The domestic traffic is served by Volánbusz coaches, which operate routes to most of the major towns throughout Hungary.

Travelling by boat

From Aprin until October hydrofoils run along the Danube between Vienna and Budapest, via Bratislava transfers. It is also possible to take a hydrofoil or pleasure boat along to the Danube bend, to towns such as Esztergom and Visegrád (see p164). See the timetable at the departure point at Vigadó tér for exact times.

Travelling by car

The lack of parking makes arriving by public transport preferable to travelling by car. Driving distances to Budapest are: from Vienna transfers, 250 km (155 miles); from Prague transfers, 560 km (350 miles); and from Frankfurt, 950 km (590 miles). Motorways are marked by the letter “M” and international highways with the letter “E”. The speed limit is 130 km/h (80 mph). Seven main roads lead out of Budapest and one, the A8, starts in Székésfehérvár. The M1 stretches from Budapest to the Hegyeshalom border crossing, where it joins the Austrian motorway network. Tolls are payable on all motorways. The M3 links Budapest to Polgár and is being extended to join up with the Slovak road network. From Budapest the M5 leads to Kecskemét (see p166), while the M7 links to the Balaton resorts. Minor roads have three or four digits, with the first digit indicating the number of the connecting main road. The police patrol right from the Hungarian border, so it is worth studying the traffic regulations displayed on information boards. These include: driving with the headlights on, wearing seatbelts in the back and keeping to the speed limit of 50 km/h (30 mph) in built-up areas. Drivers must purchase a motorway sticker for the M1, M3 and M7 motorways. On the M5, a toll fee has to be paid at the motorway gates.

Getting to Budapest

Hungarians likes to boast that Budapest-Bratislava transfer is the heart of central Europe – a claim with some justification as the city acts as a major crossroads linking north to south and west to east. It has excellent rail links with the whole of Europe and its two largest railway stations, Keleti pu and Nyugati pu (see p227) are conveniently situated in the centre of town. The country’s motorway network has undergone improvements in recent years, successfully making up for decades of neglect.

Arriving by air
Airlines from around 40 towns and cities, in 27 different countries, now fly to Budapest-Krakow transfer. The city’s Ferihegy airport is used by many major international airlines, including Air France, British Airways, Northwest, Lufthansa and, of course, the Hungarian national carrier, Malév. British Airways and Malev each operate two daily scheduled flights between London’s Heathrow airport and Budapest. There are also four code-share flights a week from Gatwick airport, which are a joint operation between British Airways and Malev. It is possible to fly to Budapest-Prague transfer from other airports in the UK, including Manchester, but only by taking a connecting flight from another European city, such as Brussels or Frankfurt. Consequently, the flight time and cost are both greater. Northwest flights from the United States involve a transfer or touch down in Frankfurt or Zurich, but there is a daily direct code-share flight from New York’s JFK airport with Northwest reservations on a Malev-owned plane. The flight takes around ten hours.