What's the Charles Bridge for Prague , the Golden Gate for San Francisco , the Bridge of Sights for Venice or the Pont Neuf for Paris is the Chain Bridge for Budapest . Budapest 's first built fix bridge is not only a symbol of the capital but of the whole country. The bridge linking Adam Clark square with Roosevelt square is 380 meters long. It was named after the chain that holds the bridge between two arch-like pillars. The huge chain links are kept together by a hundred thousand rivets. On summer weekends the bridge is closed from cars and becomes a walk bridge where several programs and attractions entertain by-passers. But we can cross the bridge on foot even on busy weekdays as on both sides there are separated walkways. Even if we stop to take a view at the wonderful sight of the Buda or the Pest side, we can easily cross the bridge in a few minutes. Yet, the illustrious writer of the 20 th century, Antal Szerb kindly jokes about the bridge: “Walk across to Buda with a lady and then come back. Preferably with the same lady. You'll see she'll say she loves you, because the bridge is so long.”

Hungarians love the Chain Bridge. There are many kind stories related to the bridge, for example the one about the lions guarding the bridge-heads not having tongues or the tales about the tunnel on the Buda side being a huge open mouth.

One of the stories goes like this. When the bridge was finished, its English designer said, if anyone can find any fault in the bridge, he'll kill himself into the water. One day a cobbler scout found that the lions had no tongues. And then Clark indeed killed himself.

The truth is that the lions were only placed at the pillars in 1852, three years after the opening of the bridge.

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In spite of Hungary’s being a small country, its Parliament is among Europe’s largest. Only London’s Parlament exceeds its sizes, but not its beauty. It was constructed during the times of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, when Hungary’s land mass was three times bigger than it is today, so its rather unusual size is a reflection to the countries past extent. Viewed from Buda, It seems as if it would float over the Danube. The Basilica is downtowns highest building, its dome is 96 meters high, as high as the parliament itself. Not by chance, both buildings, as symbols for the highest worldly and spiritual powers emerge upon the city. The temple was finished in 1906, emperor Franz Joseph gave the speech at the commencement. The Basilica is scene of many important events. Celebrities weddings, significant funerals, state and spiritual ceremonies are being held here.

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The statue of the square’s name-giver Ferenc Liszt lies beetween the trees. The romantic statue has been set up by the city for the 100th anniversary of Liszt’s death. Another Liszt statue can be seen up on the Conservatoire’s facade. From there, he snoops down at the coffee drinking, chatting crowd. The huge figure clamping his coat together, standing at the square’s and Andrássy st. corner is Endre Ady, an outstanding turn of the century poet.

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Right between Szent István körút and Teréz körút there is one of the busiest interchanges of the city. During the time of communism the square was named after Marx. Today it's called Nyugati (meaning western) after the railway station found here, which is determining the facade of the square with its strangely beautiful iron frame, glass curtain building. The view recalls the work of Eiffel, the great French architect of the end of the 19 th century. And it's not an accident.

The director of the building operations in the years of the 1870s was August de Serre, and the construction itself was done by the „Eiffel and associate” company, without interfering with the ongoing train service. The iron frame hall roof, the glass frontage and the richness of the decorative pieces all give to a wonderful sight. The railway station was always a major center of Europe 's train traffic. It's not accicental that the end station of the first Budapest tramway line was also here.

There is one more very interesting thing about the station. In its building operates probably the most beautiful McDonald's restaurant, looking at the Körút. Unlike the usual fastfood restaurants, this one recalls the atmosphere of Parisian Cafés. Almost built into the station, on the other side is Budapest 's biggest shopping mall, named Westend after the once there standing station building.

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The museums building emerges at Andrássy street 60., and can’t be missed due to its steel blade-walls. The address of Andrassy 60. still lives as an idea in hungarian people’s minds. This house symbolises the dictatorship and terror that Hungary has suffered from in the 20th century. Today, this building houses an exhibition displaying the 1944 nazi and latter communist terror in Hungary. A remarkable and edifying collection that is well worth seeing.

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The enormous monument standing at the Heroes’ Square has been built for the 1000th anniversary of the settlement of the Magyars in Hungary. Its purpose was to demonstrate the greatness of the hungarian nation to the world.The 36 m column at the center of the monument holds a statue of Archangel Gabriel with the holy crown in his hand. Statues of significant figures of 1000 years of hungarian history can be seen standing in the half-arc peristyle.

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