Hungary
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Hungary pictures. Hungary is a beautiful little country in Eastern Europe with one of the greatest capital cities in the world, several baroque towns, many small villages, rolling hills and one of the largest lakes in Europe: Balaton. The lively capital, Budapest, is a fascinating mix of a multitude of styles, and has an overwhelming atmosphere which is best experienced randomly wandering among its rambling buildings. Budapest is separated into two parts (Buda and Pest) by the Danube river: Pest is the flat one (downtown Budapest belongs here), and Buda is a rather hilly area, including two of the best vantage points of the city: Castle Hill (housing the quaint Castle District) and Gellért Hill.
The gallery also contains pictures of some of the most interesting smaller towns of Hungary: Pécs, a cheerful university town with much medieval and Turkish heritage; Szeged, a town in the Great Plains whose most characteristic landmark is its unique cathedral; Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary, having a beautiful and atmospheric downtown; and which has a superb location along the Danube bend, with a medieval castle perched above it on a hill providing great views of the surrounding mountains.
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Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
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Budapest is the clash of many architectural styles.
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Belgrád rakpart (Belgrade Embankment) and a slice of downtown Budapest.
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Panoramic view of a small section of Budapest.
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Old style Budapest balcony with drying clothes and a bike.
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St Stephen's Basilica (Szent István Bazilika) from Zrínyi utca.
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Domes on the tops of tenements in Blaha Lujza tér, one of the most crowded squares in the city.
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The colors of Cafe Classico.
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Buda Palace (Várpalota) resides on Castle Hill, and is surrounded by the Castle District (Várnegyed).
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The Castle's back garden blossoms with hundreds of flowers in the spring.
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A stroll in the Castle at night.
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Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, and the funicular taking people up to the castle between the two.
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Atmospheric walkway on Castle Hill.
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The house with the bend in the wall, in Anna utca (in the heart of the Castle District).
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Fishermen's Bastion, a structure much more elaborate than useful.
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Details of the Fishermen's Bastion
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Gathering clouds over Fishermen's Bastion.
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Fishermen's Bastion (Halászbástya) beautifully illuminated at night.
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One of the Bastion's towers with St Stephen's statue.
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Colorful houses in Buda's castle district.
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Tranquil night in the castle district
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Sándor Palota, the residence of the president of Hungary.
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The sign of Ruszwurm Confectioners.
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Steps leading to Buda Castle in Budapest.
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Szent György tér, where the Sándor Palota and the Castle Theatre (Várszínház) are located.
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An ideal place for reading
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View over Buda from Gellért Hill
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Wet door after a sudden rain in the castle.
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Colors
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One of the many colors of Budapest's Castle District.
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Chain Bridge (Lánchíd), one of the most characteristic icons of Budapest.
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The Chain Bridge was built around 1848 and rebuilt after WWII.
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Details above the bridge's archway include the Hungarian coat-of-arms.
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The Chain Bridge in a snowstorm.
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Chains of light.
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Lánchíd in winter.
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Reflections on the majestic Danube.
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Across the Danube.
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The frozen details of the Chain Bridge.
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Afternoon gossip.
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View of the Castle Hill funicular, the roundabout of Adam Clark Square, the Chain Bridge, and the Basilica in the background.
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Castle hill
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Corvin Square, a peaceful spot just below Castle Hill.
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At a pedestrian crossing on József körút
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The bugs are watching
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Crumbling facade among the beautifully restored ones in Budapest's financial district.
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Typical Budapest architecture lining the bank of the Danube.
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The Danube bank at night - the majority of the houses here are occupied by offices, hence the dark windows.
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The Danube near sunset.
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Budapest.
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Snowfall is rare but when it happens, it tends to be heavy, coating the city completely in a white layer.
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Snowy view of Batthyány tér.
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Skinny trees with forlorn bench.
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Tram stop along the Danube Walkway.
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Slowly decaying embankment
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Budapest's Tabán district with the white Deer House (Szarvasház) at the back.
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Courtyard of a Józsefváros tenement built in 1885.
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Wrought iron railing in a Józsefváros staircase
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Staircase
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Dob utca (Drum St)
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Imposing doorway in Aulich utca
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Two members of the well-known riverfront trio of hotels between the Chain Bridge and Elizabeth Bridge.
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A crumbling neighbourhood in Bródy Sándor utca
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Dob utca (Drum Street)
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The infamous 8th district (although this isn't one of the worst parts)
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Király utca with an old trolley bus and foreign restaurants (if you can call KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants)
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Király utca
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Trolley bus 78
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Art nouveau-style lamp (it's probably a modern fake)
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Gutted
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Crumbling tenement just one street away from the most prestigious avenue of the city
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Aerial view of downtown Budapest.
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Doorway in Bank utca
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A three-legged symbol similar to the Isle of Man's coat-of-arms
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Óbuda Island (or Shipyard Island) is the site of the huge Student Island festival, organized every year.
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Those who only know the summer version of the Island, trodden on by hundreds of thousands of visitors, are often astonished to see its other faces.
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Dying island.
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A warm Autumn afternoon on Óbuda Island (Óbudai Sziget or Hajógyári Sziget).
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Socialist-style elevator shaft
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Elevator controls in an old tenement
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Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsébet-híd), one of the most elegant bridges spanning the Danube in Budapest
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Elizabeth Bridge
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Many crumbling old buildings (untouched on the outside for decades) are beautifully restored on the inside
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Late night in downtown Budapest
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Budapest evening.
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Old trolley bus.
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Neatly restored eclectic (the dominant architectural style of Budapest) facades in the Józsefváros ('Joseph City') district.
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Colorful facade in Budapest's bank district, somewhere between the Parliament and Deák tér.
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Fat Mo's music club's old American ads.
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The yearly flooding of the Danube completely covering the lower embankment in 2006 (some trees can be seen sticking out of the water on the other side)
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Andrássy út
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Hundred-year-old buildings and underground station on Andrássy út
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Night on Andrássy
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The Chain Bridge in heavy snowfall.
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Fog
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Budapest's enormous Parliament dominates this part of the Danube bank.
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Frici Papa Kifőzdéje, a cheap old-style eatery in downtown Budapest (more precisely Király utca), frequented by locals.
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The stone roof of the domed fountain in Gellért Square.
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Ghost house
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Gozsdu udvar, a series of interconnected courtyards connecting Király utca and Dob utca.
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The gate of Gozsdu udvar
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Art Nouveau decoration of Gresham Palace.
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Hungarian barbecue (OK, it's not too traditional) in Kispest, a neightbourhood quite far away from the inner city
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Old ads (recently discovered in Király utca when a house was pulled down) promoting enterprises that probably existed about 100 years ago. Parts of them are written in German.
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Turkish crescent on top of Turkish leader Gül Baba's tomb and mosque.
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Budapest's Gül Baba utca, a steep, winding medieval street leading up to Gül Baba's mosque.
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View from the top of Gül Baba utca
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The colors of an approximately 100-year-old housing development Gyáli út.
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Buildings cut in half in Józsefváros with an interesting arrangement of windows on the white wall
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Derelict tenement
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Hercegprímás St
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Equestrian statue with Archangel Gabriel's column above it; part of the Millennium Monument.
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Heroes' Square is most often frequented by rollerbladers besides the tourists.
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Hikers embark on a 100km long journey, to be taken within 24 hours - this famous hike is called the Kinizsi 100.
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Holy Spirit Square (Szentlélek tér) in Óbuda.
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Leafy and peaceful Honvéd square, near the Parliament.
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An Art Nouveau house in downtown Budapest.
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Ice floes on the Danube, Hungary's largest river.
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Vörösmarty u. underground station
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Is there anybody out there?
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Izabella utca at night
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Trolley bus and its myriad wires in Izabella utca
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József körút (Joseph ring road) crossing Józsefváros, a notoriously poor, but constantly developing district of the city
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This courtyard in the 8th district is a mosaic of colors and textures
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The house will probably soon be demolished
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Renovated building in Józsefváros
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Kálvin square's beautifully restored houses.
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Kelenföld station
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The gigantic hall of Keleti railway station
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Eastern Railway Station (Keleti pályaudvar), the terminus for most international trains arriving in Budapest.
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Keleti pályaudvar
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People waiting for their trains
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Keleti station with a nonsensical advertisement of the Hungarian national railways claiming 'Farewell can be longer'
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Nightlife in Király utca
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King Street (Király utca)
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The view from Kissvábhegy mountain
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Doorway in Klauzál utca
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Homeward bound on the main ring road of Budapest
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Visual chaos on the Körút (Ring Road), one of the main arteries of the city
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Laser weapon design
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Lazy Sunday afternoon in the Buda Castle.
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Liberty Bridge, the third of the 3 'classic' bridges (Chain Bridge, Elizabeth Bridge and Liberty Bridge).
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Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) with a tram swooshing past.
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Liberty Bridge and Belgrád Embankment (Belgrád rakpart)
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Liberty Bridge's old lamps - being illuminated by others
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Details of Liberty Square (Szabadság tér).
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Firemen saving someone trying to commit suicide.
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The live-saving Fire Brigade with the Castle in the background.
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Old lightbulb trying to illuminate the attic
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Andrássy út
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Lights
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Movers in downtown Budapest
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Upwards.
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Sign and subway for the 100-year-old Millennium Underground (Millenniumi Kisföldalatti).
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Lonely bird.
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Alone.
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Luxus Department Store (Luxus Áruház) reflected in the windows of a particularly ugly office block that has recently been pulled down.
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Old mailboxes in a house in the 8th district probably soon to be demolished
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Fog over Margit híd (Margaret Bridge).
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Margit híd's arches over the Danube.
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The Buda side from Margaret Bridge
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Margitsziget (an island on the Danube) is the largest park in Budapest.
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Millenáris Park, a recently developed public space, flanked by a number of restored buildings of an old locomotive factory.
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Sign of the Millennium Underground (Kisföldalatti) railway (which was the first underground line on continental Europe).
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Old movie projector exhibited at Cirko-Gejzír Picturehouse (the cinema was named named after a heating method).
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The movie projector's dozens of controls.
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Műegyetem rakpart ('University of Technology Embankment'), in front of the largest University of Technology of the country
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Wrought iron gate in Nádor u.
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Nádor utca
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Terézvárosi plébániatemplom ('Theresa City Parish Church'), on the corner of Nagymező utca and Király utca
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The colonnade of the National Museum (Nemzeti Múzeum).
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Inside the National Theatre
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Rundown old house in a poor part of Budapest; note the crumbling balconies and the typical 'Budapest archways' leading to small shops and to the house's staircase.
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Doorway in Népszínház utca
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Belgrád Embankment - the benches in front of small port are among the best places to sit and watch the city at night
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The Danube, the Chain Bridge, the houses of Parliament and the northern parts of the city
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Szabad sajtó útja (literally meaning The Road of Free Press)
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Typical tranquil Budapest streetscape at night.
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View from Normafa, in a forest on the edge of the city
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View from Sas-hegy to the North
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The lights of Nyugati railway station
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Nyugati station
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Oktogon, an octagonal 'square' in central Budapest
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The Ring Road at Oktogon
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Traffic light for trams
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Budapest idyll
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Downtown balcony
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Some houses still bear the marks of shells shot during the revolution of 1956 and World War II
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If Orwell had been an architect
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Eclectic architecture meets social realism
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Sole painted balcony in a crumbling house
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Paris, Texas café.
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A truly interesting way of reserving a parking space - especially in the poshest street of the city (Andrássy út)
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Hungary's Parliament and the surrounding houses at about 4am.
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The enormous Parliament house looks much better from far away
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Pekáry-ház, a gothic/romantic building in Király utca
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Pekáry-ház
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A spacious arrangement of houses vs. the cramped inner city
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Booth
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Temporary pontoon bridge on the Danube, symbolizing the link between Hungary and the EU.
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The densely packed tenements of the 6th district are suddenly replaced with buildings like this near Városliget
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Protestant church in Deák tér, the center of the city.
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Railings and tunnels under the Chain Bridge.
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Old railway in the hills near Budapest.
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The storm's passed
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It's raining. The courtyard of a tenement
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In remembrance (St Stephen's Cathedral).
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Café Angelika as seen from a nearby rooftop
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Reviczky street having undergone pedestrianization a few years ago.
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Roof details
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Room on the top of Károlyi Palace in Pollack Mihály tér
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Roofland
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Kertész utca (Gardener Street)
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A park on Rózsadomb, an affluent neighbourhood of Buda
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The view from Rózsadomb
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The Square of Roses (Rózsák tere)
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Budapest sunset
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View from Sas-hegy (Eagle Mountain): from the villas of the nouveaux rich to the gray blocks of flats on the edge of town
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Always
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Wooden ram
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Angry
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This rhino thinks he's hiding behind a tree. He's not very clever
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Piles of old junk soon to be taken away by the local council make downtown life even more 'colourful' for a few weeks every year
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Budapest tram speeding past
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The statue of St Stephen (Szent István), who founded the Hungarian state in AD 1000. The horse apparently has something on his mind, but it's hard to tell what.
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Inside St Stephen's.
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One of the most well-known statues in Budapest: Anonymus, the faceless scribe of a former Hungarian king
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Queen Elizabeth and reverend Gellért - Elizabeth Bridge and Gellért Hill were named after them
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'Unused' statues left in the garden of some arts insitution
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Old steamer in the Buda Hills.
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Stencils saying 'Live for today, you'll be dead tomorrow', and 'Glazier - call [phone number]'
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Stex, one of the few restaurants in the city to offer traditional dishes in the middle of the night
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Street-tunnel
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Sleepy sunrise in Óbuda (Old Buda)
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Sunset to the north.
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Reflections of the Synagogue's chandeliers.
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Arches of the Budapest Synagogue in Dohány utca, one of the largest in Europe.
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Belgrade Embankment, the Road of Free Press (Szabad sajtó útja), the crumbling Klotild Palaces and Ferenciek tere
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Szabadság tér
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Szabadság tér (Liberty Square) is one of the most beautiful places in the city
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Szabadság tér in autumn
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Comfort in Liberty Square
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St Stephen's Cathedral (Szent István Bazilika)
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Szimpla Kert, one of the so called 'Ruin Pubs' (mostly located in the courtyards of rundown tenements)
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An old tenement building on the inside
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Stop
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The Időkerék (Time Wheel), one of Budapest's recent developments, is a spherical hourglass of immense proportions.
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The Időkerék's upper glass chamber, which it takes the sand one year to escape from, after which the huge sphere is turned around.
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The 50-year old UV, short for 'New Tram' in Hungarian
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What lurks on the other side?
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UFO, Szabadság tér
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Újlipótváros's typical Bauhaus architecture
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Riverside path in northern Pest - a calm pathway not far from downtown Budapest's bustle.
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The umbrella statues in the cobbled old town of Budapest's Óbuda district.
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Lánchíd and the embankment
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View over Budapest from a vantage point on Gellérthegy.
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The fountain of the Várkert (Castle Garden) Casino.
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Batthyány tér
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View over downtown Budapest including the surroundings of major roads Vámház körút, Üllői út and Baross utca
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The Vigadó concert hall.
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Trams in Batthyány Square (Batthyány tér)
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Budapest tram (Batthyány tér-Etele tér, Kelenföldi pu.)
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The forests of Buda
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Tranquil tourist path in the forests surrounding Budapest.
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Hungarian is a notoriously difficult language.
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View from the top of Hármashatárhegy ('Triple Border Mountain')
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The forests of Dobogókő
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The cloud-covered Dobogókő peak
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Dobogókő near the end of autumn
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A sinister forest
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Autumn in the Visegrád Mountains
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Hikers near Rám-szakadék, a dramatic crevice in the Visegrád Mountains
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In the Rám Crevice (Rám-szakadék)
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Autumn trees
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The sign of the Hungarian Blue Trail
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Fence surrounding a private land in the mountains
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Summer colours
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Hills
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The Danube can be seen in the distance
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The Duna-Ipoly National Park
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In about 35 degrees Celsius
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Panorama from the hiking trail
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View from the top of Prédikálószék Mountain (the name means preacher's stand) at an altitude of 639 metres
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On top of Prédikálószék
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The mountains surrounding Prédikálószék Mountain
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The sign of the more than 1000km long Hungarian 'Blue Trail'
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Tree hanging on to the side of one of the standing stones called Vadálló-kövek
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Rain in the forests of the Visegrád Mountains
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Unripe blackberries on the steep mountainside
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Revolving door applied to the woods
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The Barbican of Pécs, a city in southern Hungary.
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St Peter and Paul Cathedral, Pécs
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Silhouettes.
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Dandelion, one of the most widespread wild flower species in Hungary.
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The window of the Turkish church Dzsámi.
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At the end of the day.
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Pécs's main square (Széchenyi tér).
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Park in front of the cathedral.
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In the heart of Pécs.
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Tulip garden in Pécs.
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Gate.
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Csonkatemplom church in Debrecen.
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The Reformation Cathedral (once the symbol of the Reformation) and the only tram in the city.
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Downtown Debrecen
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Planners hardly ever mind joining one-storey buildings with 5-10 storey ones.
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Monument of rose leaves and thorns, commemorating the 1956 revolution against Soviet dictatorship.
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The atrium of the Debrecen University of Sciences (KLTE).
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Facade in downtown Debrecen.
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The baroque inner city near the cathedral
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The baroque inner city
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Park next to the Győr cathedral
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By the river
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The river Rába
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Island on the river Rába
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Nightfall
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The unique Cathedral of Szeged (Szegedi Dóm).
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The spires of Szeged's cathedral.
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The Szegedi Dóm overlooks the Dóm Square (Dóm tér) with its cloisters.
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Great views of the Danube Bend from Visegrád Castle.
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Visegrád Castle overlooking the Visegrád Mountains.
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The Northern tip of Szentendre Island
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Traditional Hungarian blue well, found in most small towns and villages.
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Swooshing past at about 40km/h
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A Hungarian landscape
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A station
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Autumn in the university campus
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In the park
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The royal park of the Grassalkovich Palace
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Families
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Sunday
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The Palace gardens
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Ady Endre út passes just outside the Palace
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Autumn in Gödöllő
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Student returning at the end of the weekend
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