The view from Gellert-hegy

Though Budapest was not built on seven hills, it has some mountains. Well, geologically they are hills indeed,  Gellert-hegy  towering at...235 metres, but better not argue about that. A climb up Gellert is a welcome outdoorsy activity right in the heart of the city and the panorama is not to be missed either. The mountain/hill has some secrets too, hiding a cave and a termal lake, which might have served as the origin of the name Pest (logically, the city on the other side of the river), coming from a Slavic word denominating oven. There were some lime burning ovens too in the area, so more forensic clues as to how Pest became Pest arise. But who was Gellert? He came most probably from Venice and had set his mind on converting the Hungarians to Christianity, around 1046 AD. Hungarians were not so sure about that and promptly dumped him in the Danube-another version claims it was not Hungarians, but Venetians themselves, who considered Gellert a possible traitor.The hill is still occasionally used for darker purposes by the city's inhabitants: some people choose to end their lives by jumping off, an echo of Hungary's infamous renown of being one of the most suicide prone lands in the world.