bridges – TOKIDOKI (NOMAD)

The great Danube. It was the frontier of the Roman Empire and today it flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. It begins in Germany and flows southeast for 2,860 km (1,780 mi), and passes through or touches the borders of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea.

A guardian lion on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Széchenyi Chain Bridge: suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish engineer Adam Clark. Completed in 1849. It’s named after Istvan Széchenyi, who was a major benefactor to its overall construction, but people mostly refer to it as the Chain Bridge. At its inception, it was considered to be an engineering wonder and it has made a significant impact historically, economically, and culturally on the capital city, much in the way that the Brooklyn Bridge has done for New York.

Buda Castle, completed in 1265, overlooks the Danube from up high.

Mihály Vörösmarty (patriotic Hungarian poet) Monument in Vörösmarty Square, one of the busiest spots in the downtown area.

Created in 2010 as a joint collaboration by street artists Rapa and Vegaz, the painting is a tribute to the world-renowned Hungarian-born op-art pioneer Victor Vasarely’s 1983 book “Colorful Cities.”

Entering Buda Castle Garden

red: strength (erő), white: fidelity (hűség) and green: hope (remény) – became official in 1957. It represents the 1848 revolution and the opposition to a monarchy and the Habsburg Empire.

Elizabeth, Habsburg empress and Hungarian queen. Wife of Franz Joseph, ‘Sissi’ was much loved by the Magyars (ethnic Hungarians) because, in addition to appropriating many aspects of Hungarian culture, she learned to speak Hungarian. Sadly, she was assassinated by an Italian anarchist (a poor man who hated the upper nobility) in Geneva in 1898 with a sharpened needle file.