‍I had allocated a second day in Budapest for walking and exploring the city before beginning my driving trip to Slovakia.  Unfortunately the weather was much duller than yesterday, with drizzle and grey skies.  Nonetheless, I was determined to do as much walking as the weather permitted.  In the end, I completed an 11-kilometre walk.

‍Today’s route took me south from the hotel on Belgrád Road along the eastern bank of the Danube River to Szabadság Bridge, which I used to cross the river.  After a short climb to explore Gellért Hill Cave, I continued southwards in a zig-zag pattern through narrow streets to Irinyi József Street, where I turned south-west.  My interest in this area was that in 1987 we had stayed in student accommodation near the corner of Irinyi József Street and Karinthy Frigyes Street, and I wanted to see if it was still there.  It was!  Known in 1987 as Kármán Todor College, part of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, it was not only still there, but it had the same name and an almost unchanged appearance.

‍My walk continued west-north-west along Karinthy Frigyes Street, into Villányi Street to Father Placid Park.  My attraction to this park was that in 1987 I took a photo of my daughter in the park, sitting on a bench with a background showing the Church of Szentimreváros across the street.  I have always loved that photo.  The precise spot where the 1987 photo was taken is no longer accessible because of changed landscaping, and the small tree in the 1987 photo is now so large that it largely obscures the view of the church, but It was still a wonderful feeling to locate and re-photograph the location.

‍My walk continued up to The Citadel, a huge, socialist-era, hilltop monument where, in 1987, I had noticed pockmarks from bullets inflicted by the Soviet Army in 1956 when they put down an anti-Communist rebellion.  Unfortunately, the entire Citadel area was closed off for extensive renovations and it was impossible to see anything, so I continued my walk northwards across Castle Hill.  I was rewarded with sunshine and clear views as the afternoon progressed, so there was a chance to get a few nicely lit photos both of Budapest Castle looking across the river to the city.

‍I finished my circuit by parallelling the previous day’s walk – returning to the hotel across Széchenyi Lánchid Bridge.  It was mid-afternoon and the sun was shining, so I decided to do some more exploration, but exploration that didn’t involve another 11-kilometre walk.  When I had arrived at Budapest Airport, I noticed that there was an open-air aircraft museum known as “Aeropark Budapest” immediately south of the terminal buildings.  I decided this was a worthy destination for a late afternoon trip, so using the same airport express bus service I had used when I first arrived, I returned to Budapest Airport.

‍Aeropark Budapest involved a two kilometre walk from the terminal bus stop, but it was certainly worth it.  The aircraft in the museum comprised a wonderful collection of Soviet-era airliners, mostly in Malev Hungarian Airlines colours.  I had a wonderful time exploring rare planes including an Antonov An-2, Ilyushin Il-14 and Il-18, Let L-410, Lisunov Li-2, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, Tupolev Tu-134 and Tu-154, Yakovlev Yak-40, etc, most of which could be inspected both inside and out.  In addition to the aircraft, there were airline-related vehicles such as an Ikarus bus, a Volga station wagon, several Lada sedans and a Wartburg 353 “Follow Me” runway sedan.

‍The sun was setting by the time I left Aeropark Budapest to return to my hotel, once again using the airport bus, and darkness had completely fallen by the time I arrived.  It was a perfect time to admire the floodlit evening views of the castle district from my hotel window.