My wife and I spent two weeks in eastern Europe on vacation, and Hungary was the first of five countries that we visited. While it didn’t have quite the medieval grandeur of Prague, or the modern feel of Warsaw, Hungary was really very special in its own unique way. We stayed in Budapest, and took a day trip to Kecskemet. The language is unlike any in the world, but distantly related to Finnish and Estonian. We had our ninth anniversary dinner at Gundel, a really world-class restaurant in Budapest.

Hungarians are progressing quickly out of their post-Communist haze, and it’s a really wonderful, culturally rich country. I highly recommend a visit!

19 Comments

  1. Thanks Im always happy to hear good stories from people who visited. The border issue is not so much a "land" issue as it is that ethnic Hungarians who have been forced to live in another county for almost 90 years have the right to be part of their native homeland. I hope that makes sence =D

  2. Thank you for the commercial you made for Hungary! 🙂 I hope you will come back soon and see more attractions of Budapest and Hungary!Bye!

  3. I'm simply green with envy! Hungary is such a fascinating country with a rich history. Note on the language: you are correct, it is Central Asian, brought in by the Magyars. Hungarian is Uralic, more precisely Finno-Ugric, so it's at least distantly related to Finnish but unrelated to the Indo-European tongues i.e., Germanic, Slavic, Romance, Celtic etc.

  4. Oh, and quick note on the empire: Hungary was its own empire pre-Mongol invasion (I think 1241), and then again until the Ottoman Turks vanquished it at the Battle of Mohacs (1526 if memory serves). After 1683 and the second Siege of Vienna (by the Turks), the Austrians pushed the Ottomans out of Hungary (I believe 1699). The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a dual-monarchy solution in the 19th century to Hungarian nationalism.

  5. Tip from Hungary, All of europe was basically hungary. That is why even in certain parts of romania there is a Hungarian town. Such as with other countries. But all the parts were taken from us which is what we are left with is the Hungary that is now. also what ad do you speak of that you didnt know what it was?

  6. Well, technically a large portion of Eastern Europe is actually very much at the centre of Europe. The division on West and East is more a political/cultural one.

  7. All of Europe was basically Hungary? Oh come on – don't exploit some people's ignorance to spread misinformation 🙂 I could same way argue that Poland was basically whole Europe, because there are Polish towns spread basically outside all our borders, but we both know that while at times some countries were bigger than are now, huge even, they weren't entire Europe – not even half of it.

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