There are few more complicated corners of Europe than the 170-mile
Danube corridor that connects Vienna with Budapest.  Here, at least half
a dozen different races have settled to form parts of successive empires
or kingdoms, leaving behind them enough monuments to fill a guide book -
and enough unsolved disputes to start several more wars.

Drive between the two capitals and you will learn nothing of all this.
Cycle along the Danube's flood banks and the country lanes of Hungary
and Czechoslovakia and you will catch the flavour of a part of the
world that today has fresh interest for westerners