Hungary

Budapest is a city of long and rich history. The statue of Imre Nagy facing the Parliament Building is just another proof. Imre Nagy was Prime Minister of Hungary during the revolution in 1956 when his government was brought down. He was tried and executed in 1958. His name was not to be mentioned during Communism, However, he became a symbol of freedom for the Hungarians. 

Hungary

This nice market snapshot comes from Budapest, Hungary, as you can see, showing the Central (or Great) Market Hall. It's the largest indoor market in Budapest, both designed and built by Samu Pecz around 1896. A distinctive architectural feature is the roof which was restored to have colorful Zsolnay tiling.

Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices, and spirits such as paprika, tokaji etc. The second floor has mainly eateries and souvenirs. I see many many tasty things ;)

And great Hungarian Europa CEPT stamp from 2012 inviting as to visit Hungary. The red pepper and grapes that form "H" and "U" really match with all the colorful products on the front of the postcard.  Thanks a lot, Karr!

Hungary

The Hungarian State Opera House is a neo-Renaissance opera house located in central Budapest. It is home to the Budapest Opera Ball, a society event dating back to 1886. Today it is the largest Opera building in Budapest and Hungary. The construction lasted from 1875 to 1884 and was funded by the city of Budapest and by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. The Hungarian Royal Opera House  opened to the public on the September 27, 1884.In the 1970s the state of the building prompted the Hungarian State to order a major renovation which eventually began in 1980 and lasted till 1984. The reopening was held exactly 100 years after the original opening, on the September 27, 1984. 

Thank you, Dora! 

Hungary

Another new country in my collection! I am so lucky these days...

Hungary is a landlocked country located in the Central Europe, in the Carpathian Basin. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest with the population of.1.74 million inhabitants (2011), while the whole county has the population of aproximately 10 million. Budapest is located on the both banks of Danube, the most important river in Europe. The name "Budapest" is the composition of the city names "Buda" and "Pest", since they were united to become a single city in 1873. Hungary is also a member of the European Union, Nato, the OECD and is a Schengen state.

                                              

The postcard shows Vajdahunyad Castle - a composition of different architectural styles built to commemorate the Hungarian Millennium which was celebrated in 1900.

Karr sent me this nice card with two even nicer stamps. Thanks to many great people my list of missing European countries is getting shorter each week, so at the moment I miss only around 10 countries. Thanks, guys!