It’s relatively common knowledge that Budapest was originally two separate cities, divided by the great muddy ribbon of the Danube. There’s Buda on the western side, all hills, parks, and castles. Then there’s Pest in the east, a wide, flat stretch of both grand avenues and more down to earth residential areas. Buda has the main tourist highlights; Pest is where the party is at. During the Habsburg days, Buda was the German side of the city; Pest was the Magyar hot-bed. The two cities, along with the town of Óbuda, were not officially united as Budapest until 1873 (I guess Pestbuda just didn’t trip off the tongue…). But it is obvious, even to the casual observer, that the reality is that the two sides are quite distinct in character, not simply divided by a river.
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