The Danube is the longest river in the EU. We had no idea.
It originates from the Black Forest in Germany (see our post about it here) and travels southeast through four capitals before entering the Black Sea at the border of Romania and Ukraine. The four capitals are Vienna (see a sample of our posts about Vienna here), Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. Now we have seen two of the four captials.
The river is known as Donau in Germany and Duna in Hungarian. We walked across it a couple of times, one time at night. It was very atmospheric as it was foggy.
There are at least 10 bridges that cross the Danube in Budapest. The most famous one is the Chain Bridge (Széchenyi Chain Bridge or Széchenyi lánchíd) which is in front of the Gresham Palace (click here to see the palace) on the Pest side of the river.
Designed by an English man and funded by a Greek merchant, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary, and was opened in 1849. It is famous for the lion sculptures.
On the Buda side, it is connected to Adam Clark Square, near the Zero Kilometer Stone and the lower end of the Castle Hill Funicular, leading to Buda Castle. We were just getting out of the tunnel beneath the Castle Hill Funicular.
The Buda Castle offers a panoramic view across the Danube of the Pest side of the city. We just found out that the banks of the Danube as well as the Buda Castle Quarter (where some of these pictures were taken) are both recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Parliament on the bank of Duna
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Our one-day hop-on-hop-off tourist bus pass allowed us to go back and forth freely between Buda and Pest, hence all these pictures of the bridges.
Margaret Bridge (Margit híd)
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Elisabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd)
Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd)
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If one is to sail downstream from Bratislava to Budapest and then to Belgrade, the bridges that will be encountered are in order: Margaret Bridge (Margit híd), Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd), Elisabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd) and Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd).
