Hungary

Speaking of this country I cannot include it all in a single tour, because I have passed through here countless times, on some of which I stopped to see part of it. Hungary is identified with its capital, the only truly large city on which all roads converge from every direction like the spokes of a wheel. If the saying "all roads lead to Rome" is only a manner of speaking, it is a fact that all Hungarian roads converge on Budapest. The egocentrism of the capital is so strong that if you want to go from east to west you are forced to pass through the centre and cross one of the many bridges over the Danube. And the Hungarians perhaps do well to force you to pass through here, because Budapest is the only truly beautiful thing they have to offer tourists. For the rest, Hungary, apart from rare hills, is a great monotonous plain that lives in the shadow of the capital.

Budapest is a beautiful city with Habsburg palazzi, imposing churches and a splendid fortified citadel that watches over it from above — that Buda, once a separate city and now joined to the lower Pest. You can climb to Buda even by a cog-wheel funicular to visit the romantic Fishermen's Bastion, the polychrome Matthias Church, which is a jewel inside as well, the equestrian monument of St Stephen and the royal palace, on whose railing a bronze Habsburg eagle displays itself. With a bit of cultural baggage you can imagine the coronation of Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sissi, as Queen of Hungary in the Matthias Church, or Maria Theresa's strolls in the gardens of the royal palace while she gazes at the bronze statue of King Matthias Corvinus hunting with his dog.

From here you get a panoramic view of Pest with St Stephen's Basilica and the flamboyant Gothic pinnacles of the Parliament Building, which mirrors its splendid façade in the waters of the Danube. Pest, the lower city, has broad avenues and large parks, one of which on holidays fills with people thanks to a permanent circus, a playground, the strange reconstruction of a castle displaying various architectural styles from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and in winter a large ice-skating rink. But Budapest is identified above all with the course of the Danube, which here forms islands and is crossed by imposing bridges, one of which, the Chain Bridge, is the city's best-known monument. So much architectural wealth eclipses the rest of Hungary, but nonetheless on my many passages I did not give up visiting other places, of which I try to give a brief description below.

Not far from the capital is Princess Sissi's country residence at Gödöllő. The first time I saw it, in '94, it was in a state of complete abandonment. The imperial palace was so dilapidated that the entrance gate consisted of a plywood panel, the windows without frames replaced by nylon, the façade peeling with age. The communist era had not looked after the Austro-Hungarian assets, but not many years later, when I returned, I found a royal palace in grand style, restored to perfection. How they managed to accomplish this metamorphosis in such a short time I still wonder. Sissi, whose statue in the adjoining garden seemed abandoned to itself, can now smile again. North-east of Gödöllő is the village of Hollókő, where you can see a corner of old Hungary with wooden houses, characteristic wells and typical shops.

There are also some people in costume; the architecture is well preserved, but it is all very touristy. Towards the border with Romania is the Hortobágy area, a wild countryside that they call puszta here, rich in livestock and especially horses. The most important centre is the place of the same name, very touristy, with a large wooden farm, an arched bridge and many souvenir shops. Towards Slovakia there is instead the Tokaj wine region, famous for its wine and its cellars, but nothing of tourist interest. Hungary has no sea, but Balaton, a narrow, long lake stretching south-west of Budapest, is a good substitute. A peninsula juts out from the northern shore and houses a monastery at Tihany, while the rest of the circuit is a succession of resorts often squeezed between the railway and the lake, with the exception of Keszthely, rather pretty with a wooden pier extending over the water.

A little more interesting are the surroundings of Balaton: Badacsony is a hill and a place where wine is produced, while at Tapolca there is a rather modest visitable cave and, nearby, a park with strange basalt formations. The neighbouring Veszprém presents a limestone rock formation on which a fort is set. In the north-west, not many kilometres from both Vienna and Bratislava, at Fertőd, stands the palace of the Esterházy princes, who played an important role in Hungarian history at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nearby are a lake partly shared with Austria and the medieval town of Sopron. I would also mention Pécs, a southern city very young thanks to its many students, very green because rich in parks, and rather unusual for Hungary — in fact its residential area develops on a hill. I have visited many other places in this country, but decidedly less interesting.

What I like least about Hungary, however, are the Hungarians: among all the European peoples I have known, among the worst in character and hospitality towards foreigners. Never trust a Hungarian!