- Note: there is also a Margarita Island in Colombia and an Isla Margarita in Venezuela.
Margitsziget (or Margit-sziget), meaning Margaret Island, is a 2.5 km long island in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, between the two city parts, Buda and Pest. The island mostly consists of a park and is a popular recreational area for tourists as well as for local people. The island lies between bridges Margit híd (south) and Árpád híd (north).
Its major points are the Centennial Memorial (pictured, remembering the hundredth anniversary of the city's unification), the Palatinus open-air bath and Alfréd Hajós swimming pool, a tennis stadion and an athletics centre, the Musical Fountain and a small Japanese Garden, another fountain which provides music accompanied with water show, an open-air theatre, an octagonal water tower (pictured), and a little zoo.
Among its historical monuments are the XIII-century ruins of a Franciscan church and the ruins of a Dominican church and convent from the same century, as well as a Premonstratensian church from the XII century. – The island used to be called Rabbit Island (Nyulak szigete), and it received its current name after Saint Margaret (1242–1270), the daughter of Bela IV of Hungary.
It is forbidden to enter the island with vehicles; only one bus is let in. Its special vehicle is Bringó-hintó, a four-person bicycle, available for hiring.
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