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Afternoon picnic in the Buda Castle

In Buda, contrary to many other capitals, the royal castle really is at the top of a hill, as it is in all the best old stories. Known as the Royal Palace of Buda, it is visible from virtually every point in the city.
Not just one but three castles have been built on this site. The first appeared in the thirteenth century after the Mongol invasion and was a thick-walled fortress intended to withstand enemy attacks. Few contemporary descriptions have survived but archaeological digs have revealed fragmentary remains. In the fourteenth century it was enlarged in the Gothic style, and then at the time of one of Hungary's greatest monarchs, King Matthias, it was remodelled into a Renaissance palace famed far and wide.
The Turks took Buda without a battle in 1541, and for a while the mediaeval buildings remained structurally intact. However, they suffered grievously later through siege, conflagration, explosion and earthquake. The city walls often had to be patched up and new bastions built, and today a part of the fortifications from this period can still be seen.
Having lasted almost 150 years Turkish rule ended with a three-month siege, and this heralded the third main period of castle building in Buda. Ruined buildings were cleared away, cellars filled in, and in 1714 the building of a baroque palace began. It was further extended in the nineteenth century into the form with which we are familiar today. The Royal Palace was completely burned out in the Second World War, losing in the process its valuable furniture and art treasures. On restoration it was converted into a centre of culture becoming home to the mediaeval, Renaissance, baroque and later Hungarian masterpieces that comprise the permanent collection of the Hungarian National Gallery. In separate wings of the palace complex, the Budapest History Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the principal library of Hungary, the Szechenyi Library are housed.

The Castle District (Budai várnegyed)

Several buildings in the Castle District are important in their own right, for example, Matthias Church; the office of the president of the republic in the Sándor Palace, in front of which there is a change of guards each midday to the accompaniment of music; and, of course, the Royal Palace, home to national collections and museums.
The Castle District's town houses with their courtyards, ground floor wings, gateways with sediles, and cellars with dried-up wells all conjure up the atmosphere of the wealthy Buda of the long-gone Middle Ages. It is well worth taking a peek into most of them. Running the length of the District's western side, Árpád Tóth Walk invites you to take a stroll with its quietness, its attractive landscaping, and its beautiful view over Buda. However, the scenery to the west cannot beat that of the eastern side, where the view over Pest and the Danube belonging to the World Heritage Site opens up from the Fishermen's Bastion and the Palace Square.
The winding caves within the belly of Castle Hill (Várhegy) were carved over the centuries by the power of the underground water; people have used them for hiding, storage and escape routes. The Labyrinth of the Buda Caste is dangerous for anyone unfamiliar with this subterranean town, famous for its legends, but everyone may visit with a guide. (Source: Vendéváró & utazzitthon)