DAISY ISLAND (MARGITSZIGET)

The island boasts unsuspected historical relics. At the end of the island, towards the Árpád bridge, the water tower, completed in 1911, is now under Unesco protection. The open-air theater and cinema, open in summer, are also just off the Árpád bridge. Nearby, the ^12th-century Church of St. Michael is an example of the Romanesque style. It was destroyed in 1541 during the war against the Turks. Excavations unearthed the ruins and between 1930 and 1931, the church was rebuilt identically. Finally, near the two spa hotels, you can see the ruins of the Dominican convent and its church (early ^13th century), where the daughter of King Béla IV, Marguerite, to whom the island owes its name, lived from 1242 to 1271. After the religious orders left Margitsziget, in the ^19th century the island was given to the palatine, Alexander Leopold, and then to his brother Joseph. It was to Joseph that the island was turned into a park and botanical garden. And it's to the former that we owe the thermal springs and the island's first spa complex, built by Miklós Ybl. At the entrance, towards the Marguerite Bridge, two recent testimonies to Margitsziget's past and present seaside activity: the Palatinus beach and the Alfréd Hajós swimming pool. Behind the onion-shaped monument symbolizing the union of Pest, Buda and Óbuda, a light and sound fountain (szökőkút) offers a musical show every hour, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in summer.