AS to the capital of Hungary, it’s not as old as it’s supposed to be. Budapest, pronounced Buda-Pescht, only dates to 1873, and most of the oldest architecture only predates it by a few years, but the commies who found the place in rubble after the war made a decision not to utilize Socialist modernism but in 19th century classical revival and art nouveau, which is why the place was inscribed in the first place.

In other words, in good taste.

The city was originally two cities, Buda, which is on top of a thing midway between a hill and a mountain, and Pescht, which was a smallish flat suburb before the nationalists decided to make it the national capital in 1867. The iconic chain bridge was already there, built in 1856, and it was near there that they decided to build the gaudy-but-cool capital building (make sure to get your ticket in the morning, because they sell out quickly), and a bunch of parks. Then there was the grand promenade, which has a bunch of museums and statuary of legendary and revolutionary heroes and is part of the WHS.

One strange thing about the Pescht side is that a bunch of insurance companies built palaces, which are office buildings with attached hotels and shopping malls, and they still are used for much of the same purposes and and well worth a visit. The newer buildings follow the same pattern, post-modernist palaces that look the part.

The Buda side is somewhat different, here some of the architecture is genuinely old, such as the Matthias Church, which goes back to before the Renaissance and managed to survive both the Turkish occupation and two world wars. There are also a bunch of museums and everything is easy walking distance once you get to the top. That is except Memento Park, which is not part of the WHS. 

This is definitely a pleasant surprise.