As we travelled, the land flattened out and the fields seemed somewhat larger with more agriculture happening here.
A lot of wind farms.
The turul is a mythical bird resembling an eagle or a falcon. According to legend there was a woman named Emese who was visited by an eagle/falcon in her dream. She became pregnant and gave birth to Álmos (in Hungarian dream is “álom”), the man who eventually led the seven Hungarian tribes to their new homeland in the Carpathian basin. The legend was most likely born when the Hungarians lived side by side with Turkic tribes because the word “turul” is of Turkic origin. As time went by the turul wasn’t so much the symbol of the Hungarian royal house as of power, war, and nobility in general. Such totem animals are well known the world over as parts of coats of arms; one can even find an eagle in the Great Seal of the United States. To this day the turul appears in the coat of arms of the Hungarian Army and the Office of National Security.
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. It is divided by the Danube River into Buda, Pest and Obuda (meaning Old Buda). Pest is on the eastern shore, Buda on the western shore and Obuda is further into the hills. Pest is the commercial and administrative centre. That was where our hotel was located. The cities are linked by bridges-Petofi Bridge, Margit Bridge, Freedom Bridge and Chain Bridge.
Crossing the Danube River on Freedom Bridge going to our hotel in Pest.
Pest, here we come!
Heroes Square, the largest square in Budapest.
The Millennium Monument in the middle of the square was erected to commemorate the 1000-year-old history of the Magyars. Archangel Gabriel stands on top of the center pillar, holding the holy crown and the double cross of Christianity. The seven chieftains who led the Magyar tribes to Hungary can be seen on the stand below. Statues of kings and other important historical figures stand on top of the colonnades on either side of the center pillar.
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