Košice

I originally had plans to spend two days hiking in the Tatras, but the next day I was hobbling around like a geriatric and the one flight of stairs in my hotel were bringing me to tears as my foot and joints remonstrated me for pushing them to their breaking point. So. Cutting my losses I decided I might as well push on and decamped to Kosice.

Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia, but with only 250,000 people this isn’t saying much. It is, however, an undeniably beautiful city with one of the broadest pedestrianised boulevards I have ever seen running through the middle of it, complete with a cute little stream running down the centre of it leading to the largest cathedral in Slovakia, also the most eastern gothic cathedral in europe.

I spent 3 days there in total not doing much, partly due to the lack of things to do and also taking the opportunity to relax and recharge and letting my aching body recover. I spent most of my time hanging out in the many very cool coffee shops on the main drag doing some planning for my remaining 2 weeks and connecting with the local cafe culture.

The cafe culture in Eastern Europe is surprisingly strong, this is something that always surprises me, never fitting comfortably with my stereotypes. People sit out in cafes all day long, ensuring they are always packed. Starting with coffee in the morning and moving on to beer and wine in the afternoon, which is something I have always been only too happy to play along. After 2 days of doing little else, I felt like a new person, however, restless and ready to move on.Read more