Remembering Hungary - 2008

                       Hand of St. Stephen, the first Saint who came to Hungary around 1000 AD

      We paid our first visit to Hungary the summer of 2008, spending 4 days there and had our friends Tibor and Tunde Csombordi bring us around the town. They are born and bred Hungarians so I was very appreciative of them spending so much time showing us around the city. It is a beautiful city, with a total of 11 bridges, and the city as was the rest of the country part of the USSR up until 1990 when the entire Soviet Union broke up. 

      Many of the states our countries are self autonomous, and there is great pride amongst the people. Budapest is actually 2 towns separated by the Danube River. Buda is the high ground or small hill whereby the old castle and the upper classes (in the old days, not now) lived while Pesch was the poorer side where the common folk lived.  

Russian inspired statues all around Budapest 

It is still relatively undeveloped as compared to many Asian cities, with their megaplexes and massive traffic jams. The Underground which was developed during the Soviet era is still utilised and the economy is still growing as compared to the richer Western Europe which has been experiencing very difficult times these last 4 years.  

                                   Tibor and Tunde our Hungarian friends, taken at the castle atop Buda

    We definately would like to visit Hungary in the near future and take in the sights of the old city plus Lake Balaton, which is the holiday area of the Magyars. I will put up pictures of that visit in another post. 

St. Stephen, whose statue is also very apparent around Budapest