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Published: March 14th 2015
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Seasons come and go fast but one thing remains the same, many tourists choose Budapest to spend their freetime in this wonderful city. They usually get on the hop on - hop off buses and visit the most attractive sights while they trying to cram everything in three - four days. In this blog I would like to show you my favourite spots in Budapest, and not just ones that are shown in the tourist books, I would rather like to introduce you the hidden treasures that many tourists are not aware of.
I am very keen on slow philosophy and as its part, the slow tourism. It means for me that I focus on the environment, I rather choose walking, I try local foods and I get to know more about the local people's life such as culture, everyday's life and customs. Budapest is a huge city but not so huge that you couldn't get closer to its soul - what I like here is that while you can feel the urbanist life around you, simultaneously you can enjoy the beauty of nature. We have a wonderful river, the magnificant Danube that flows across Budapest and therefore the city
is often called the Queen of the Danube. There are many wonderful bridges over the river in Budapest that makes the city more romantic. The feeling is inexpressable when you see them shining at night. Besides our beautiful river we have many parks, islands, mountains and caves. All these places are perfect for enjoying the freetime and relaxing.
Many tourists don't know about Óbuda. Here I am trying to collect the most important sights and convience you to visit this part of Budapest.
- Óbuda Island
Next to the one of the most visited sights of Budapest, Margaret Island, I propose you to visit the Óbuda Island as well. The atmosphere is different, I guarantee that you wil not meet more than 10 - 20 people in the whole island. Why? Because it is not located in the downtown, you need to travel a bit to get there. If you have ever visited the Sziget Festival, you know its location (the festival is located in this island), but not, you will not get lost because it is very easy to use the public transportation in Budapest. You have to take the suburban railway (HÉV 5) from Árpád
Square or Margarat Bridge and get off at the stop "Filatorigát". From the stop it will take approximately 5 minutes to get there.
You need to know that once shipyard operated here so it is also called shipyard island. This island belongs to the territory of Old Buda. I suggest you to walk around the island, you will enjoy the beauty of nature, the trees, the bank of Danube. And you can touch the Danube here, so it is a perfect place for relaxing and leave the weekday's problems behind us. There is a very big meadow in the middle, where people can play football, boardgames, leasure activities, or just enjoy the good weather in a blanket.
- Óbuda (Old Buda): Óbuda is the part of Buda, this is the 3rd district of Budapest. This district played an important role in Budapest's history from the Roman era till the modern days. It is interesting to know that this city part was united with Buda and Pest in 1873 to form modern Budapest. For history lovers it is the perfect place to go back in time and enjoy the atmosphere of old times. The area of today's Óbuda was
inhabited in as early as the stone age. The romans formed the capital of their Pannonia province - bordered by the river Danube - Aquincum.
Aquincum means "abundant in water" indicating that the Romans discovered and appriciated the area's most important natural treasure the thermal spring. Aquincum was a military base and a Romanian legion of 6000 soldiers stationed there in 89 AD. You can visit the museum of Aquincum where you can see the remains of Roman's life, it is really worth taking a walk in its garden and inside the building.
Apart from the museum, visit the main square of Óbuda, where you can feel as if you'd travelled back to the 17-18th century. In the main square don't miss to visit the Zichy castle (erected in the middle of 18th century) In the castle there are many interesting, small museums and an open air ruined pub - the Kobuci garden. It is only open from april to september/october depending on the weather.
In summer I couldn't imagine better place than this, under the shadow of the trees drinking limonade with lots of fruits and enjoying an open air concert from one of hungarian talented
bands. It is easily approachable - take H5 suburban railway or tram 1 and getting off at the Szentlélek square. If you are interested more about it, click on the following link:
http://kobuci.hu/en/what_is_kobuci Óbuda is a nice, wonderful place with many friendly people. While summer time there are many concerts and performances in the main square during winter time you'll find there Christmas market.
You won't regret If you come and discover the hidden treasures of Óbuda for yourself. 😊
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