Hungary trivia: 46 questions and answers

Budapest. Budapest is the capital and by far the largest city, home to about 1.7 million people on both banks of the Danube.

Hungarian forint. Hungary pays in the Hungarian forint (Ft). It joined the EU in 2004 but has not adopted the euro.

True. True. Hungary is landlocked in the Carpathian Basin. It borders seven countries, all of them by land.

Kékes. Kékes, in the Mátra mountains, is Hungary's highest point at 1,014 m. The others are the highest peaks of Slovenia, Austria and Croatia.

The Ottoman army. The Ottoman army of Suleiman the Magnificent won at Mohács, and King Louis II died while fleeing.

True. True. The three towns on the two banks of the Danube were united in 1873 and given the new name Budapest.

False. False. Hungary lost 71% of its territory and about two thirds of its population under the Treaty of Trianon.

Andrew II. Andrew II was forced by his nobles to issue the Golden Bull in 1222, one of the first documents in Europe to limit a king's power.

Austria. The gate to Austria near Sopron was opened on 19 August 1989, and several hundred East Germans crossed to the West.

István Dobó. István Dobó and about 2,100 defenders held Eger against a much larger Ottoman army.

A cattle herder. Gulya means a herd of cattle and gulyás means a cattle herder: the dish began as the meal of herdsmen on the plains.

River fish such as carp. Halászlé is a hot paprika soup made with river fish such as carp, from the banks of the Danube and the Tisza.

A hard, shiny layer of caramel. The Dobos torte has thin sponge layers with chocolate buttercream and a hard, shiny layer of caramel on top, which kept it fresh longer.

True. True. Lángos is fried until crisp, rubbed with garlic and topped with sour cream and cheese. Its name comes from láng, meaning flame.

Kürtőskalács. Kürtőskalács is sweet dough wound around a cone and roasted over charcoal. Kürtő means stovepipe, and the hollow cake looks like a chimney.

False. False. Despite the name, the dish has nothing to do with the Hortobágy region. It was invented for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels.

True. True. The story says Austrian officers clinked beer glasses to celebrate the execution of 13 Hungarian generals in 1849, and many Hungarians still avoid it.

Szeged. Szeged, Hungary's third-largest city, is famous for its paprika and for the Pick winter salami.

True. True. Sopron sits right on the Austrian border, and after a vote in 1921 it chose to stay in Hungary.

Székesfehérvár. Székesfehérvár was the royal seat of medieval Hungary: 43 kings were crowned there and 15 were buried there.

True. True. Esztergom Basilica, on the Danube north-west of Budapest, is the largest church in Hungary.

Neo-Gothic. Imre Steindl designed the Parliament in neo-Gothic style. It opened in 1902 and is the largest building in Hungary.

True. True. The Széchenyi Bath in City Park, opened in 1913, is one of the largest spa complexes in Europe. Its water comes from two hot springs of about 74°C and 77°C.

It is the largest synagogue in Europe. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, with 3,000 seats, built between 1854 and 1859 in a Moorish style.

It is a warm thermal lake where you can swim all year. It is a warm thermal lake where you can swim all year. Lake Hévíz is fed by warm springs: about 33 to 35°C in summer and about 22°C in winter. It is the largest thermal lake in Europe where you can swim.

A Benedictine monastery. Pannonhalma Archabbey is a Benedictine monastery on a hilltop, with a library of about 400,000 books. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

False. False. Eger Castle is famous for the siege of 1552 but is not a World Heritage site. Hungary's sites include Budapest's Danube banks, Pannonhalma, Hortobágy, Pécs, Tokaj and Hollókő.

A wide grassy plain, the puszta. Hortobágy is a wide grassy plain, the puszta, the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe, with grey cattle and horses tended by mounted herdsmen.

1974. Ernő Rubik invented his cube in 1974. It was first called the Magic Cube and went on sale around the world in 1980.

True. True. Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874 and moved to the United States with his family as a small boy.

Finnish and Estonian. Hungarian is a Uralic language, distantly related to Finnish and Estonian and not to the languages of its neighbours.

True. True. Kovács István has the family name Kovács and the given name István, though most Hungarians switch the order in a foreign language.

False. False. Metro Line 1 opened in 1896, a hundred years earlier. It was the first electrified underground railway on the European mainland.

Vitamin C. Szent-Györgyi is credited with first isolating vitamin C and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

About 3 metres. About 3 metres: Lake Balaton is 78 km long but very shallow, only about 3.3 metres deep on average.

The ballpoint pen. The ballpoint pen: Bíró patented the first commercially successful modern ballpoint pen, which is why a ballpoint is called a 'biro' in Britain.

Bread. Kenyér (KEN-yair) means bread, which Hungarians eat with almost every meal.

False. False. Nem means no. Yes is igen (EE-gen).

Left. Bal means left, and jobb means right.

Köszönöm. Köszönöm (KUH-suh-num) means thank you. The reply is szívesen, you're welcome.

Egészségedre!. Egészségedre! means 'to your health'. Jó étvágyat is said before eating.

True. True. Szívesen (SEE-veh-shen) means you're welcome.

112. 112 reaches police, ambulance and fire. 104 is only the ambulance, 105 only the fire brigade and 107 only the police.

False. False. Hungary has zero tolerance: it is illegal to drink any alcohol and then drive.

65. People aged 65 and over travel free in Budapest; a passport or ID card is enough to prove your age.

True. True. One single ticket covers changes between metro lines, but you need a new ticket when you change to a tram, bus or trolleybus, or you could be fined.