Discount Hotels Budapest
Historical interest: Budapest
    
The story of Budapest began on the Buda side when Celts settled on Gellért
Hill, well before the birth of Christ. The Romans subsequently occupied the
area in the 1st C AD, in their effort to expand the empire's frontiers north
to the river Danube. The Roman settlement, Aquincum, grew into a town of 30,000
inhabitants and became the main city of Pannonia province.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Magyars reached the area, settling first
in the flat areas, including the large island that once stood where Pest City
Centre stands today. The Tatar invasion in the 13th century quickly proved that
defence is strategically difficult on a plain.
King Béla IV ordered the construction of reinforced stone walls around
the towns and set his own royal palace on the top of the protecting hills of
Buda. The Middle Ages witnessed two separate towns living here side-by-side:
famous Buda with its lavish palace and well-to-do bourgeoisie; and Pest, the
city of merchants, lying on the other side of the river.
The town saw little development in the 16th century. The rich settlements of
Western civilization were gradually turned into vivid oriental towns and later
abandoned, while the Christian cross was replaced by a new symbol - the crescent
of the East. The Turkish occupation lasted for more than 140 years, leaving
very few marks but much destruction.
The 18th century saw the city on the move again, while the 19th century was
the age of major changes, and witnessed the birth of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy,
which significantly contributed to the blossoming of the country and its capital
city.
In 1873, Buda and Pest were officially merged with the third part, Óbuda
(Ancient Buda), thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The destruction
of the city during WWII could only be compared to the devastation wrought by
the Turkish occupiers.
After WWII and until May 1990, when the first democratically elected government
took power, the country was a victim of communist imperialism. The achievements
of the past decade along with political changes have helped to efface the dictatorship
of the not so distant past.
Selection of hotels in this region:
Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget | | Erzsebet Hotel | | Kempinski Hotel Corvinus | | NH Budapest | | Astoria Hotel | | Stadion Hotel | | Hotel Taverna | | Grand Hotel Hungaria | | Carlton Hotel | | Hotel Atlas | | Art Hotel | | Hotel Inter-Continental Budapest | | K+K Hotel Opera | | Radisson SAS Beke Hotel | | Hilton Budapest | | Le Meridien Budapest | | Art'otel Budapest | | Novotel Budapest Centrum | | Mercure Korona Budapest | | Mercure Budapest Museum | | Mercure Budapest Metropol | |
Click below for a
full list of hotels and online booking
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