Property Hungary
Hungary entered the EU in May, 15 years after the fall of communism. Already Budapest is a new place, and everyone has a car. But don’t be put off: the city’s old pleasures — the music, the thermal spas and boating on the Danube — will stay for ever. If you’re buying a house in Budapest, the first question is shall it be Buda, or Pest? Or their suburbs? Buda is the city’s steep acropolis, with the royal castle (rebuilt after 1945) on top and a lower town below beside the great river that separates Buda from Pest. Linking the two is the 1840s Chain Bridge, a suspension bridge designed by William Tierney Clark after he did Marlow Bridge across the Thames.