My better half & I were in Košice (aka Kaschau). It’s the 2nd largest town in Slovakia (about 300 k inhabitants – so it’s somewhat like Greater Bonn, however, there’s no megalopolis like Cologne nearby).
What are we doing here? My better half is busy w/ a job visit in the international group … & I … I accompanied her – working on my blogs now, do shopping & sightseeing in Košice, walking the city centre & its alleyways, taking snapshots – in short: some sort of unwinding.
… & up to now I can state that Košice is a perfect town for any sort of unwinding!
… & don’t mix up Slovakia & Slovenia. Slovakia is surrounded by Austria, Czechia, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary while Slovenia is in the Mediterranean hemisphere having access to the Adriatic Sea – although a very small coastline – almost straight vice versa of Venice.
In the very heart of the city is the St. Elizabeth cathedral – next to the impressive structure are people enjoying their coffee and beer in the last September sun. There is a stretched promenade, a very long promenade w/o any access for vehicles (except deliveries) w/ shops, restaurants, bars, cafés, some fountains, some parc areas … I should emphasize that the café/bars (in combination) are a majority offering lots of space w/ comfortable armchairs & sunshade (that’s essential because we had about 30° C last week!).
So there’s no excuse of getting stressed. Just relax, unwind, decelerate … however, I didn’t join any fashionable digital detox phase: I worked on my blogs as ever – maybe a little more relaxed.
Each morning I liked to walk around the city center. Doing snapshots whenever seeing some interesting features from the past: Košice is a very well preserved town w/ lots of relics from the past – from the Middle Ages up to modern times and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
So have a coffee, do some food shopping, have an early beer in late afternoon …
City centre’s masterpiece is the cathedral of the 14th century.
The Plague Column remembering the Black Death in 1709-10 …
… leads us to the State Theatre.
North & South of the cathedral are Urban’s Tower (the bell tower) & St. Michale’s Chapel (also 14th century).
There are elaborate roof ornaments around you …
Buidings are well preserved …
… & some small interesting artwork in passing by … (I’ve got more than 300 snapshots – so only very, very few!).
There’s also a small farmers’ market next to the promenade (although in the mid of some alleyways – so you have explicitly to look for it!).
There is an abundance of fresh fruit & vegetables – confined to the European region. To meet requirements there are supermarkets – small supermarkets … (I don’t know anything outside city center because we lived at the edge of city centre, my better half walked to work, we had no car …)
