Budapest Guide
The Belváros
The Embankment
The Belgrád rakpart (Belgrade Embankment) bore the brunt of the fighting in 1944–45, when the Nazis and the Red Army exchanged salvos across the Danube. As with the Várhegy in Buda, postwar clearances exposed historic sites and provided an opportunity to integrate them into the environment – but the magnificent view of Buda Palace and Gellért-hegy is hardly matched by the row of modern hotels on the Pest side. While such historic architecture as remains can be seen in a fifteen-minute stroll between the Erzsébet híd and the Lánchíd, tram #2 enables you to see a longer stretch of the waterfront between Szabadság híd and Kossuth tér in the north, periodically interrupted by a tunnel that's the first to be flooded if the Danube overflows its embankments, as sometimes happens in the summer.
The bold white pylons and cables of the Erzsébet híd (Elizabeth Bridge) are as cherished a feature of the panorama as the stone Lánchíd to the north or the wrought-iron Szabadság híd to the south. Of all the Danube bridges blown up by the Germans as they retreated to Buda in January 1945, the Erzsébet híd was the only one not rebuilt in its original form. In fact it was not replaced until 1964 – and even then had to be closed down immediately due to faulty engineering.
In the shadow of the approach ramp, the grimy facade of the Belváros Parish Church (Belvárosi Plébánia Templom; Mon– Sat 7am–7pm, Sun 8am–7pm; free) masks its origins as the oldest church in Pest. Founded in 1046 as the burial place of St Gellért), it was rebuilt as a Gothic hall church in the fifteenth century (his remains had been long shipped off to Venice), turned into a mosque by the Turks and then reconstructed as a church in the eighteenth century. This history is reflected in the interior, and after Latin Mass at 10am on Sunday you can see the Gothic sedilia and Turkish mihrab (prayer niche) behind the high altar, which are otherwise out of bounds. The vaulted nave and side chapels are Baroque.