Weather: 🌥️🌤️☀️🌤️☀️
Lunch: 🥪🥪🥪 (3 out 5, slices of bread with duck paté at the SNP cafe in Kosice…)
Track: 🇸🇰🇸🇰🇸🇰 (3 out of 5, Nice track through the forest, an easy walk out of the mountains)
Track intensity: 😯😯😯😯, 4 out of 5, the 19 km felt longer than expected)
Hotel: 🛌🛌🛌 (3 out of 5, nice appartment in the city centre, with a good bed, good shower and washing machine)
Name of followed trail: SNP trail
Special mention: We left E8 for now, because we choose not to go into Ukraine.We make a detour along E3 through Hungary and into Romania instead where we will pick up E8 again
After a rainy and windy night, we wake up grateful that we stayed in a hut.
We take our time today, because it’s only 19 kilometer, all down hill.
Our breakfast menu is the exact same as the evening menu, so sausages, soup or dumplings. A hearty morning dish it is..😅.
We get going around 9.30 and have our first stop after 5 kilometers at a cafe at Jahodna. After a coffee and Kofola, we are on our way again. This time we walk down into Kosice. It takes us longer than expected, probably because we thought it would be a short day. When Marcin arrives at the café, je tells us he felt much the same, but: “19 kilometer is still 19 kilometer”.. Wise words, Marcin!
From this point onwards, we will leave the SNP trail, and E8 for now. The E8 continues to the Dukla pass with Poland, through Poland, back into Slovakia with a big loop, and then into Ukraine. The political situation in Ukraine made it necessary to have a plan B for when we would get to Kosice. Unfortunately we will go for this detour, going south from this point of the trail into Kosice, following E3 through Hungary, to the border with Romania. We will pick up E8 again a bit east from Baia Mare.
So for now, we head into Kosice, to the old town centre. After some searching we find the entrance to our appartment, thanks to the Dutch speaking (!) Slovakian lady in the office in the same building. There is also a massage salon in the building, so we make an appointment for tomorrow, because we’ll have a zeroday here!
After a shower we do the first laundry and start planning the next section. We go for dinner and have some good coffee and an ice cream as dessert, while watching the light and music show at the singing fountain.