In 1863, the 1st underground railway in the World opened in London. A question:
Where was the 2nd underground railway system opened, in 1896?
Well done if you said BUDAPEST!! Many Westerners know little about Hungary, despite its unique history and culture. We would welcome the chance to share the delights of this remarkable "Pearl of the East" with you!!
Located at the centre of the Carpathian basin, Hungary is like a saucer surounded by low mountains: the Matras to the North, the Carpathians to the East and South. Its flat central plain is split North to South into 3 parts, by 2 big rivers - the Danube and the Tisza. This geography gives Hungary its steady, pleasant continental European climate - hot in summer, with some 2,000 hours of sunshine and an average 21.3c in August - yet cold (an average of -1c in January) and dry in the winter.
7 other Countries border Hungary, which has performed the classic role of a buffer state many times in its history.In the 1st millenium, having migrated from the central Volga area via the Black Sea coastal region, the Megyer tribe - hence MAGYAR for Hungary today - settled in this fertile central plain.
Becoming a Christian kingdom in A.D. 1000, Hungary for many centuries served as a barrier to Ottoman Turkish expansion in Europe. Having slowly sucumbed to Ottoman forces from 1526, the depleted kingdom gradually regained its freedom from 1699, eventually becoming part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1848. Numbering nearly 20 million inhabitants in 1900, the Hungarian population then was twice as big as it is today!!
However, the Trianon Treaty of 1919 followed the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of World War I, and punished Hungary by taking 60% of its land away from it. Having yet again backed the wrong side in World War 2, the country fell under Soviet Communist rule thereafter.
In 1956, the popular Hungarian Revolution proposed the withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact. The short, but bloody, revolution itself went unsupported by any of the Western democracies, and met with a massive military intervention from Moscow, being brutally crushed across the country. However, under the leadership of Janos Kadar in 1968, Hungary again began liberalizing its economy, introducing "Goulash Communism".
Later, the opening of Hungary's border - so allowing East Germans to cross freely into Austria - was a key factor in the collapse of the iron curtain at the end of 1989. Hungary held its first multiparty elections in 1990, and initiated a free market economy. It joined NATO in 1999, the EU in 2004, and currently plans to join the Euro in 2011.
The legacy of this complex, bewildering history is left behind as a treasure of palaces, castles and stately homes. In Budapest itself (the western town of Buda was only joined by a bridge across the Danube to the eastern town of Pest in 1849), the main feature is the wealth of Hapsburg homes remaining in the central City, itself now subject of a massive re-development programme.
Come and join the 2 million people living here, and enjoy a kaleidescope of cultural activities - both old and new - each and every evening...