not say which is the more beautiful sight: to look from Pest, which
stands on level ground, up to the varying hilly landscape of Buda; or to
look from the hillside of the latter place on to the fairy-land of Pest,
with the broad silver Danube receding in the distance like a great
winding snake, its scales all aglitter in the sunshine. It is beautiful
by day, but still more so at night, for myriads of lights twinkle in the
water, and the hillsides are dotted as if with flitting fairy-lamps.
Even those who are used to the sight look at it in speechless rapture
and wonder. What must it be like to foreigners!

Besides her splendid natural situation, Budapest has another great
treasure, and this is the great quantity of hot sulfur springs which
exists on both sides of the Danube. The Romans made use of these at the
time of their colonization, and we can find the ruins of the Roman baths
in Aquincum half an hour from Budapest. During the Turkish rule many
Turkish baths were erected in Buda. The Rudas bath exists to this day,
and with its modernized system is one of the most popular. Csaszar bath,
St. Lukacs bath, both in Buda, have an old-established reputation for
the splendid cures of rheumatism. A new bath is being built in Pest
where the hot sulfur water oozes up in the middle of the park--the same
is to be found in St. Margaret's Isle. Besides the sulfur baths there
are the much-known bitter waters in Buda called "Hunyady" and "Franz
Joseph," as well as salt baths.

The city, with the exception of some parts in Buda, is quite modern, and
has encircling boulevards and wide streets, one of the finest being the
Andrassy Street. The electric car system is one of the most modern,
while underground and overground electric railways lead to the most
distant suburbs. The city has a gay and new look about it; all along the
walks trees are planted, and cafes are to be seen with a screen of
shrubs or flowers around them. In the evening the sound of music floats
from the houses and cafes. There are plenty of theaters, in which only
the Hungarian language is used, and a large and beautiful opera-house
under government management. There are museums, institutions of art and
learning, academies of painting and music, schools, and shops, and life
and movement everywhere. At present [1911] the city numbers about
900,000 souls, but the more distant suburbs are not reckoned in this
number.

[Footnote A: From "Hungary." Published by the M