... that Budapest, the metropolis with more than a million inhabitants, used to be a small settlement with a population of barely 300 during Hungary's stormy past. Where nowadays glamorous shops, hotels, restaurants and multi-story business centres fall in line, small, one-story houses used to form a settlement consisting of only a few streets. For the residents, each day was a new struggle for their daily bread. Imagine that you are taking a stroll on these dusty streets and meet the fishwife, the miller and the monk. After stopping to pass the time with them, you continue strolling and suddenly realize that the insignificant village has slowly turned into a vibrant town complete with a row of houses, churches, baths, barracks and squares rising from the ground. The town starts to flourish, and the streets are filled with the hullabaloo of the fishwives, water sellers and artists. It has more than 10, 000 inhabitants and between the one-story houses, some two-stories can already been found.

Imagine that Buda and Pest at this time are still separate towns, and if someone feels like dancing in the famous Buda balls, he or she must walk across the frozen Danube in wintertime or boat in a cockleshell during the summer. A couple of decades later, however, the construction of the Chain Bridge - which even in its time was regarded as a world sensation - has begun and the town slowly looses its village-like appearance. Only a few lodges with wattles in their yards can be found in the outskirts. Merchandise and industry replaces cultivation and farming, and by 1900 the population of Budapest approaches the present number of its inhabitants. Imagine that you live through all of this and watch as multi-story blocks of flats replace old cottages. That by the regulation of the Danube and the conscious design of the city, its present outline starts to emerge. You are there, when the old town hall and the Tabán are demolished, or when the construction of the Parliament begins. You weep together with the mourners at Lajos Kossuth's funeral and celebrate the Millenium in the City Park. You see Lujza Blaha, the nightingale of the nation, on stage, bump into Gyula Krúdy in a bar and cheer with the genteel public at the car races organized in the Normafa on the weekends. Imagine that while strolling in the smoggy city, you pop in the battered gates of the houses and you find Nemecsek and Feri Áts playing with marbles; and while you are waiting for someone in front of the Evangelic Church in Deák square, you spot Mór Jókai in the crowd rushing to the sermon.

ImagineBudapest was created to enable you to live through all these events and feelings. During our alternative sightseeing tours, we revive the old city - among its present settings. We aim to pass on not only information concerning the history of the city and its art to the participants, but such knowledge and feeling as well that will help to form the nowadays rare connections. We believe that in this city, Budapest, one can live not only in the present, but also look back in time without complaint. In order to truly enjoy ourselves somewhere it's definitely worth getting personally acquainted with the local spirit. And you might even find out that this spirit is not that scary at all!