Porhászka László: The Danube Promenade - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)

Budapest guidebook published in 1961 gave the following description of the esplanade, which was still closed to motor traffic: “Here stretches the most beautiful and frequented ‘promenade’ of the Inner City and of the entire capital, an esplanade full of a public basking in the sun or enjoying a stroll from spring to autumn, especially on holidays. ” Now the old practice of floodlighting the Citadella on Gellért Hill, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, and the Matthias Church and Fishermen’s Bastion in the Castle District on festive occasions was revived.

The Thonet Court’s Café Dunakorzó, restored in 1960, the terrace of the Italian restaurant Bella Italia, opened in the place of the former in the summer of 1965, and the restaurant of the Hotel Duna (the former Bristol) all turned their fronts toward the promenade. A bright red marquee covering the terrace of the Hotel Duna somewhat relieved

The Danube promenade in the early sixties

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