Maybe Hungary thread is the best place for this. I've read this some time ago from some Russian-language blogger. Quote:

'About Tolkien relation to Hungary:
1. Gondor main city is called White City. Hungarians had several cities with name Fehérvár - White City. One of them - ancient Hungarian capital (Székesfehérvár - "white capital")
2. Anduin river alludes to Danube. Hungarian "White City" Székesfehérvár is related to Danube as "White City" Minas-Tirith is related to Anduin. Bot placed at the west of river, there are plains between river and city, and mountains located at west of the city.
3. In Tolkien times, even English schoolkid could answer to question: "Name kingdom without king, where regent is ruling" - Hungary. Regent Denethor literally based on Horthy - he too had two sons, one of them died.
I don't state that Gondor is literally Hungary, but Tolkien surely was inspired by Hungary.
And 1 - someone may remember Serbian Belgrad. But that city was Hungarian in Middle Ages and was called Nándorfehérvár.
Tolken, as many others, admired legendary Budapest art-deco* and based "Numenorean style" on it. Especially "bird" theme, specific to Danube.'