Introducing Košice

People just naturally seem to congregate along the long town square where café terraces line the streets and monumental architecture fills the centre. Buildings range from 12th-century Gothic to 20th-century Art Nouveau. Crane your neck to admire the massive Cathedral of St Elizabeth, before you head underground to explore the ancient city’s archaeology. Come evening, gather with the locals on the benches near the musical fountain, stop in a café for a drink or attend a performance at the State Theatre. Slovakia’s second city has a real sense of cohesion and community in the old town, which is missing from the capital. The industrial outskirts and vast residential districts built during the communist era do leave something to be desired though.