Budapest

Budapest is cut in two by the Danube, and its lit bridges are the whole evening show. On the high bank, the white turrets of the Fisherman’s Bastion line up above the rooftops, with the city laid out below. Facing them, a vast neo-Gothic palace bristling with spires runs along the water, and the dome of St. Stephen’s Basilica marks the centre of the flat side. The city sits on hot springs: at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, chess is played outdoors in steaming water below yellow palace walls. Grand old cafés still serve chocolate and cream under chandeliers, while the bars have taken over abandoned tenements. Beneath Andrássy Avenue runs the first underground railway on the continent, opened in 1896. The food is generous and red with paprika, the white wines are dry, and the island moored mid-river is nothing but lawns and fountains.