If Budapest were Manhattan, this would be its Central Park. Margaret Island is named for the daughter of King Béla IV. In the 13th century Margaret was sent here by her father to serve as a Dominican nun in a convent, and she stayed on the island until she died. The ruins of the convent lie on the east side of the island. Margaret Island once served as a royal gardens, and until 1945 an admission fee was charged. Despite the fact that the island is now host to numerous lively garden bars, an air of gentility still surrounds places like the meticulously kept rose garden. And the water tower and musical well at the north end of the island evoke a lost world of bourgeois gentility. The Japanese garden, with its pool of water lilies, is also charming.