Budapest of Buda hills are environmentally protected. The city's importance in terms of traffic is very central, because all major European roads and European railway lines lead to Budapest. The Danube was and is still an important water-way and this region in the centre of the Carpathian Basin lies at the cross-roads of trade routes. Budapest is one of only two capital cities in the world which has thermal springs (the other being Reykjavík in Iceland). Some 125 springs produce of thermal water a day, with temperatures ranging up to 58 Celsius. Some of these waters have medicinal effects due to
Greater Budapest Greater Budapest Greater Budapest is the name of Budapest in its present, extended size, as it was created by the "Law No. XXVI of 1949" passed on December 15, 1949 and it came into force on January 1, 1950. By attaching 7 towns and 16 villages to the former Budapest, its area enlarged from 207 km² to 525 km² (154%), the number of its inhabitants increased from 1.05 million to 1.6 million (52%), and the number of the districts augmented from 14 to 22 (57%), thus becoming the seventh metropolis of Europe in its time. The only difference between the