A day of travelling, returning to the Slovak city of Košice.
As I woke up in a budget hotels at Luton Airport my body raised objections to crossing the room, much less my planned weeks of walking. Persistent pain in my lower right back had been hovering around for the last two weeks; my arthritic left knee was no better than usual, and I was a few kilograms above my normal weight and feeling fat. I had not spoken of my ailments with my wife or anyone else for fear they might try and persuade me to delay my long planned trip. Instead I convinced myself that it would all sort itself out after a few weeks of hiking, certainly, sitting on trains and buses yesterday did not help. If I sucked my tummy in I still looked OK in the bedroom mirror with a slight sign of muscles below my ribs, although maybe a four pack instead of a full six pack.
My mood was further dulled as my expectations of this trip were lower than on previous treks. Based on various blogs and vlogs I expected much walking through woodland, rain trickling down my neck, and poor visibility obscuring any distant vistas. However, as I walked unevenly down to breakfast with my stiff and painful back, I mused that things often turn out differently to what you expect. As it was part of the E3, and my trek from the Black Sea to the Atlantic I was committed to walking it.
Luton Airport was much the same except for visibly armed police wandering around, stubby, semi automatic rifles at the ready, maybe because of the recently increased level of terrorist threat. A police dog handler led a small spaniel around who vigorously wagged its tail as it sniffed people's bags.
Once in departures I chose a latte from at a self service screen at a café, an extensive range of strange and unusual drinks were listed such as blueberry matcha and turmeric chai latte. Mine just had coffee and (cows') milk.
A few hours later, after flying over miles of brilliant white cloud, I descended towards Košice airport. Once below the clouds I looked down on ridges and valleys of intelocking spurs clothed with trees. I had read that forests cover 44% of Slovakia and suspected I would pass quite a few trees on my route. Košice came in sight, seemly a mass of apartment blocks, stood up like cream dominos across the city. However I knew from my previous visit that it had an attractive old centre.
On landing I was introduced to the EES, the system that will record when I enter and leave the Schengen area. This involved being photographed and having the finger prints of my right hand taken.
With the help of Google Translate I managed to acquire a bus ticket from the machine in front of the airport, before boarding the number 23 bus which conveniently arrived a few minutes later. I copied the other passengers validating their tickets at the device by the bus's door, then we were off into town.
My hotel looked dusty on the outside but was clean on the inside with a friendly, English speaking receptionist. After settling in I visited a supermarket in the Avpark mall to get supplies and then went to a restaurant recommended by the receptionist. Portions could have been bigger, I should have ordered the soup as well as the main course of pig's cheeks and mashed potatoes but it did leave room for dessert (crêpe with strawberries, mascapone, almonds and cream).
The central, old part of Košice is lovely. I would have looked inside the cathedral but a couple of men hanging around outside made me suspicious so I merely enjoyed the intricate masonary and coloured roof tiles on the outside. The fountains I had seen last time were dancing to a popular song. For a while I sat and watched the pulsating drops of water, coloured red and orange by the lighting before heading back to my bed.
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