Rosie and The Operator are travelling around Slovakia for the next 6 days as part of a combined 24 Day Roadtrip including Romania and the Mega Cities of Vienna and Budapest. This tiny land locked country of 5.5 million has a similar population to New Zealand, but can fit into New Zealand six times over!
We have never visited Slovakia before but were told how beautiful it was from a chap selling honey wine at a Christmas Market in Prague last year. He loved New Zealand and said we would love his country. We loved his wine…so why not, Slovakia here we come!
Rosie and The Operator are driving 3 hours from Budapest in Hungary to Kosice, which sits in the east of Slovakia close to the Hungarian border. Kosice is a medieval gem with its origins dating back to the 13th century. Today it is the second largest city in Slovakia and has a population of 240,000. There are also three Universities in this city with a total number of 21,000 students. The entire old town and main sights cluster around the longest promenade (Town Square) in Slovakia making for a car free, very easy going sightseeing destination to stroll.
As we stepped through the cobbled archway of a side street into the main square for the first time and stood looking around at the tall church spire, the pastel coloured buildings, a fountain playing in the middle of a summer garden full of blooms, we knew we had made the right choice to visit this country.
The added bonus, there was hardly anyone about. No busloads of tourists, not a lot of people like us, standing looking skyward in awe at the beautiful architecture, there were mainly just local folks going about their day to day business. This is so unusual, this is one of the main tourist cities to visit in Slovakia, have we finally found a place off the beaten track that is not over run with tourists like us?
The lack of people and the small compact old town meant we were totally going to have a nice relaxed day seeing the handful of sights in the city. Lets get started.
You are immediately drawn to the middle of the square and the huge dominating, carbon black building with the gold spire which is The Cathedral of St Elizabeth. Built in 1378 you cannot miss the brooding, dark outline of Europe’s most easternmost Gothic Cathedral, it is seen from every part of the town.
Rosie took pictures from every side of the cathedral and can say the outside was her most favorite part of it. Inside, after having been spoilt by the opulent Spanish churches of her last holiday, this church was very simple and austere with the most beautifully delicate hand painted and crafted alter piece made by a local Master from the 15th century. By the way, please do not take photos inside the church, it disturbs those praying. Well, seeing as we were the only ones in the church…Rosie didn’t think it would be a problem.
We had to climb the tower to get a view over the town. Rosie is getting used to these power climbs, something she used to avoid in the past but is now mandatory on all holidays and Rosie loves a good overview of the town. It was 160 steps to the top and the views back over this town are totally going to be worth it. We paid our two euros each to the lad at the tower door and around the tiny spiral staircase we went. We climbed and climbed and then on a landing with no windows the stairs stopped.
WTF said Rosie! Where’s the view, what the hell is going on? There were a few photos on the wall of priests who had trod the boards of the holy alter in the past and their bios in Slovakian and nothing more. Our ascent had stopped in a tower dungeon! The Operator peeped behind a red velvet curtain in the far corner of the tower, there is another set of stairs here but this curtain is kind of a barrier….this cannot be the way up? It must be said Rosie, I know you can take awesome pics of the square from the top of the tower! Lets go up then said The Operator!
Rosie was doubtful, it doesn’t look like anyone has been up these stairs for years. It was eerily dark, there were cobwebs, and the dust had not been disturbed for decades. Rosie kids you not, there was even loose gravel and debris on the narrow winding steps! But we kept climbing till we could go no more and we came out at the top of the tower. We stood on tip toes, in a secondary dungeon, peeping through the narrow slits of the tower that were covered with chicken wire. It was here that Rosie and The Operator discovered…we were in the wrong tower. We could see people snapping photos out of decent sized windows from the tower on the other side of the church!
Are you shitting me! Rosie was fuming….she is not a fan of excessive energy expenditure for nothing! Down she wound around the spiral stone staircase at supersonic speed muttering the whole way down, ready to tear strips off the lad who had just taken 4 euros off us for the pleasure of ….nothing!
Where was the view? I asked him. There is no view he said, quite confused…there is an exhibition. You need to tell tourists Rosie admonished the confused seemingly 15 year old. That was not worth 2 euros each! Shame on you Rosie said and flounced off.
Technically, mumbled The Operator you never asked if this was the tower with the view….well, it never said there wasn’t, said Rosie…..there is never more than one tower you can climb per church said Rosie. Never. The Operator followed mumbling, grumbling Rosie as she strode across the church to climb the tower with the view.
There was the door, on the exterior of the church, at the bottom of big bell tower, open and advertising panoramic views from the top. Serious, that lady had not been there before we entered the church! So, after paying another 2 euros each and climbing another 160 steps we stepped out onto the viewing balcony and took in the beautiful view of the cathedrals tiled rooftop, the town square below and surrounds for miles. Rosie exhaled her negativity and grumpiness, reset and breathed it all in.
The country side in the distance is beautiful, green and lush looking. The new town extends out from the old in a perfect circle and is ringed by tall tenement buildings, from the distance they look so dense and colourful.
Back down on ground level, the 14th century chapel of St Michael’s is right next door to the cathedral. It petitely sits taller than it is wide and has a gorgeous tiled roof. This was once the location of the original city graveyard, hence the chapel being named after St Michael, the guardian of the souls of the departed heading for the next world.
Rosie had read that the chapel had sporadic opening hours. She dutifully checked with the information Kosice Information Center and was told that inside the cathedral to the left was a booth. The lady in the booth would let us into the chapel, which is quite stunning to behold and be sure not to miss it.
Yes, all of the information above was correct. Except the old, whiskery lady wouldn’t let us into the chapel! Not just for two, find two more and I will open the door she said, as she shut her booth in our face. Remember back when Rosie said this town was very quiet tourist wise, we looked around for prospects to tour the chapel with…and gave up pretty quick.
The Cities Coat of Arms dates back to 1369, making it the oldest in Europe. It stands on the edge of the square looking so picturesque when in the camera frame. A beautiful angel spreads her wings and protects the city depicted by the coats of arms she encloses, the buildings in the background make the image look magical.
Our next stop was the Underground Museum which shows the excavational remains of medieval Kosice. This museum is under the square where the remains of the ancient city have been discovered during construction work in 1996. It’s a nice, very subjectional stroll through a vaulted maze of chambers showing the scant remains of the ancient defense walls, fortifications and waterways dating from the 13th and 15 centuries.
The Museum was pretty much at the extreme southern end of the square so we spun around, retraced our steps and headed back past the cathedral where Urbans Bell Tower stands, tall squat and proud. Dedicated to the patron saint of wine making this tower is unique as under its porticos are very rare Early Gothic gravestones in various states of weathered disintegration dating from the 14th century that are still very interesting in their detail and design. It was also interesting to see which way the prevailing weather over time has come from which rendered some of the gravestones blank.
The Singing Fountain and Carrillion sits in a beautiful lush park in front of the State Theater making for a beautiful photo stop. The ‘fountain’ rises and falls in accordance with the beat of popularised songs broadcast continuously through loudspeakers in the park. Rosie and The Operator walked past the park many times and never heard the same song twice…so well done Kosice for obviously have a big music loop. The Carillon never burst forth on any hour, maybe it too was waiting for more people to be present before it unleashed.
This is the other side of the State Theater, this popular spot seemed to be a hang out for pizza munching young romances and the elderly enjoying the sunshine throughout the day.
Directly in front of the park is the tall, ornate, Baroque Plague Column. Built as a tribute to the Virgin Mary in 1723 in gratitude for an end to the plague that beset the town from 1709 – 1710. It truly is the best, most elaborate tribute to survival that Rosie has encountered on her travels. Legend has it that the bodily remains of the actual St Valentine are buried under one of the columns.
Taking our time and strolling down the colourful promenade, this house is one of the oldest in Kosice. Called The House of Levoca it houses a hostel and brewery today and has continuously done so since the 15th century when this was also a merchants lodging house and brewery. This makes it the oldest restaurant in Slovakia and one of the oldest in Europe. Rosie loves the big, blocky design and the way the sides slope inwards almost cartoonishly.
Crafts Lane just behind it was home back in the 16th century to the many trades that plied its wares in the city and is now in the process of being renovated and reinvigorated in the same ancient format where modern day artisans have taken up residence. It too was a lovely compact, narrow streeted area for a wander.
Here he is, The Statue of The Marathon Runner, looking to sprint back in the direction of the main drag, exactly where Rosie and The Operator are headed to the nearest bar for happy hour. This statue commemorates the running of the very first marathon in Slovakia and lists the names of all of the annual winners to date. Rosie gives the plinth a pat and sedately walks back to town.
Back in the main square the terraces outside the colourful buildings housed cafes, restaurants and bars which were filling up with people enjoying the spring sunshine as the afternoon wore on. These were not ordinary people though. They were tribes of people, all dressed in a rainbow of national colours, wearing helmets, crazy hats and carry flags. Many were chanting songs in different tongues, banging drums, tooting horns and marching towards the bars as if they were about to go to war.
Rosie and The Operator looked in amusement at each other and turned to one of the tribesman sitting next to us and asked what was going on. The World Ice Hockey Championships were being hosted by Slovakia right now and the two main hubs in the country for games were Kosice and Bratislavia.
Every night before the games all team supporters ’emerged from somewhere’and came out before they marched to the ice hockey venue in town. Rosie and The Operator were keen to see a game! We have never watched a live game of Ice Hockey before and what better way to debut than with a match at the Worlds! Sorry to disappoint said the super fan, all of the matches have been well sold out in advance! Never mind, it was fab just sitting there checking out the ornate facades of the buildings and watching the antics of the good natured crazy supporters as they walked by.
This wee old town even had a few artful surprises up its sleeve that put a smile on your face as you walked past.
Rosie and The Operator were heading towards the other extreme end of the square where the East Slovak Museum was housed in a beautifully huge, impressive building. Don’t forget to leave your handgun and dog in the car before you come in here, they are not welcome. But you can bring your scooters and bikes inside the building if you like while you are visiting. Serious we saw people parking them inside.
In a vault in the basement of this building lies a fortune in golden treasure with a great backstory. While renovating a house in the main square of Kosice in 1935 workers came across a small copper chest in the wall of the house, when it was opened, they found inside 2920 gold coins, some medals and a large golden chain. According to the mint date on the coins the stash was dated back to about the 15th century and everything that was in that chest is numbered and on display in the vault.
What an impressive haul to stumble across! It was pretty awesome to see too. The rest of the museum was full of wartime memorabilia and not a word of English in situ.
Out the back of the museum was a beautiful relocated and renovated Carpathian Wooden Church. This one was devoid of any interior but wait till tomorrow! Rosie and The Operator are on the Wooden Church Trail in rural Slovakia and what sights these original buildings are to behold in their incredible, original settings.
Dotted around the town were memorials to various famous historical locals. Rosie didn’t recognise any of them but did think the pointy looking eyebrows were very Russianesque….all plaques and inscriptions were accompanied by a floral arrangement or ribbons of some kind.
Driving out for a nosey into the towns suburbs where we saw the colourful high rise tenements that ringed the town from the top of the cathedral tower, and looked so pretty from a distance. In reality, up close, they were pretty grim. The coloured rough cast exteriors are peeling and cracking. Long grass with no playgrounds or outdoor areas surround them. It is quite incredible how close tens of thousands are living stacked side by side and one on top of the other….and not a soul to be seen anywhere.
After the fraught start to the day at the cathedral…the day turned out beautifully relaxed and what better way to finish it than with a nice cold bear and a wee meat snack of beef tongue and horseradish with a beautiful traditional pub snack of Marinated Hemelin Cheese (You have to try the recipe in the link..yummo)….before the hockey crowd take over every reserved table in the house.
Kosice was a gem to explore, relaxed and strikingly beautiful, what a great place to start our Slovakian tour. Tomorrow we are off to Bardejov, only an hour up the road, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Whilst there we will be checking out the famous Wooden Churches and the most beautiful town square in Slovakia.
Check out our 24 day Road Trip Itinerary which includes travels through Slovakia, Romania and the super cities inbetween of Budapest and Vienna.
