What is beneath the ground of Budapest? Discover the city’s hidden attractions!

Budapest has many exciting spectacles on the surface: churches, museums, historical sights, bridges and many more. But have you ever wondered that beneath the ground the same and even more exciting things await you? Let us see these attractions!

Caves

Hungary has many caves outside Budapest as well, for example, the Aggteleki Karszt which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Besides caves that are only for guided trips, there are some with healing thermal water good for respiratory and breathing problems. Budapest has two major ones definitely recommended to visit: the Pál Valley cave and Szemlő-Hegyi cave. Both of them offer guided tours and a fantastic experience for everybody.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons by Christo

Photo: Wikimedia Commons by Christo

Hospital under the Castle District

Yes, it is real! The Hospital in the Rock is part of the cave system beneath the Buda Castle, although not the part of the naturally formed structure. The hospital was built to be hidden from bombs and aeroplanes during World War II and served as the number one healthcare institution and hiding place for soldiers and civilians. The site is also a famous movie location. In 1996, during the shooting of Evita, there is a scene when Eva Perón (played by Madonna) is taken to hospital for surgery. All the scenes were shot in Budapest at this place.

Photo: www.facebook.com/Sziklakorhaz.Hospital.in.the.Rock/

Photo: www.facebook.com/Sziklakorhaz.Hospital.in.the.Rock

I am…Dracula!

Dracula’s prison and the labyrinth is part of the natural cave system under Castle Hill. It was probably already inhabited in the prehistoric times, with people living there until the 11th and 12th centuries. Caves here have since functioned as wine cellars and masonry mines, but come wrapped in curious myths. The Turks used them for military purposes in the 16th century, but archaeological evidence also found that the place was an underground harem. One of the Labyrinth’s headline attractions is Vlad Tepes, known better as Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula, who spent a spell down here as a prisoner.

Photo: Youtube

The cave church of Gellért Hill

Unlike the caves beneath the city’s other hills, most of these are closed off. The main cave is open to the public with a small church with an entrance facing one of Budapest’s most famous spas, the Gellért Baths. During the past centuries, Pauline Monks occupied it until the 1920s, but it was sealed for decades after the Soviet Red Army captured Budapest in 1945.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons by Derzsi Elekes Andor

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Sziklakorhaz.Hospital.in.the.Rock

Source: Daily News Hungary