Budapest, built on both sides of the Danube, offers the sophisticated traveler the familiarity of European culture with a tantalizingly distinctive Hungarian flavor. Grand, tree-lined boulevards and neoclassical buildings from the 19th century connect neighborhoods criss-crossed by winding, narrow, cobblestone streets from medieval times. In this city destroyed many times by invasions and wars and lovingly rebuilt every time by a proud and creative people, you find antique-filled flea markets, fascinating book stores, inviting cafés with strong coffee and sweet confections, museums and concerts to delight the eye and ear while, at night, the lights on the monuments and bridges gleam in the dark like jewels. Budapest still conjures up image, more exotic and mysterious than any other Western capital, it is still both a dark stop along the fabled Orient Express and an accessible capital, all of i this gives the city its tremendous warmth and singular charm. 

You see it in the domed baths, originally built by Turks during 150 years of occupation, and in the Eclectic style of turn-of-the-century architecture throughout the city. You taste it in the complex cuisine influenced by the Magyar founders from Central Asia, Turks, Serbs, Austrians and French. You hear it in the folk music and unpronounceable language, unlike any other and you especially feel it in the verve, the humor and the sparkle of the people. 

The city known as Budapest is actually three cities: Óbuda, the oldest section with Celtic and Roman ruins on the Buda side of the Danube; Buda among the gently rolling hills on the western bank, famous for its historic Castle Hill and beautiful residential area; and bustling Pest with its shopping, government and commercial districts on the flat plain of the east bank. 

It is a cave on the southeastern side of Gellért Hill which gave the city half of its name. Seeing the hollow in the hill, and the other caves that underlie the Buda Hills, the Magyar conquerors from Asia - with no word of their own for cave - borrowed the Slavic word, "pest," from tribes living in the area. They named what is now Gellért Hill "Pest Hill" - or hill of caves.

In 1926 a lovely chapel, known as Rock Chapel, was built inside the hollow of Gellért Hill and can be visited today. The miles of caves under the city are the inactive vents of hot springs, the source of thermal water for all the city's spas. Sections of the labyrinthine cave system may be toured, for example Castle Cave at the corner of Országház and Dárda streets. Many caves have served as wine cellars and air raid shelters.