Kosice in eastern Slovakia is a city of cca. 240.000 inhabittants. It is the centre of the eastern Slovakia (východné Slovensko) region. It has the strong relations, but often a competitive ones, with a neighbouring Presov (cca. 90.000 inhabittants). The citizens of the both cities call themselves "Vraňare" /crowers/ and "Koňare" /horsers/. Every year in Kosice is a contest Kosice Baloon Cup. Here are some photos, describing the panorama of eastern Slovakia metropolis.

Hotels Slovan (the high building) and Gloria (the cornered building)
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/015.jpg

Jacob´s palace in the centre and the City park on the right
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/021.jpg

Old city centre view, including important sightseeings: St. Elisabeth´s dome, Urban tower (named from the first name Urban), and Main theatre
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/024.jpg

Former palace, today the seat of health insurance company
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/016.jpg

View on the swimming pool
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/017.jpg

And old city centre with a broader perspective
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/030.jpg

View on Regional government office, East Slovakian museum, Tax authority building
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/032.jpg

Offices, Commieblocks and family houses
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/034.jpg

Entertainment centre "Jumbo"
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/035.jpg

Central railway station and a part of the city park
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/038.jpg

Kosice sever - the northern district
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/041.jpg

Shopping district
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/046.jpg

Towerblocks-commieblocks district Furča
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/048.jpg

One of university complexes
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/050.jpg

Highway junction to Presov, on the right commies Tahanovce
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/051.jpg

Areal of one of the basic schools
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/059.jpg

Good view on the commiedistrict Tahanovce (but built in the beginning of 90ies, it is not that bad, as some 60ies and 70ies)
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/062.jpg

Another suburb of Kosice - this time the satelite villages
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/064.jpg
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/074.jpg

And final shots for 2004 Baloon Cup :)
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/4.jpg
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/023.jpg

Nice panoramic pics, Wicky ! It seems Košice has good street infrastructure! I just love junctions like this one:
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta04/051.jpg

Is Košice 2nd biggest city in Slovakia? Do you have highway between Bratislava and Košice?

But some Slovakian girls told me last year that Banska Bystrica is actualy most beautiful city in Slovakia ;)

Looks nice. Is there still a Hungarian community there?

@Kubster: Kosice main minorities are Czechs (cca. 3 % of total population), Hungarians (2,5 %), then Germans and Ukrainians, but also Gypsies (2,5 % - district Lunik IX).
@long foot: Yes, Kosice is the second largest city in Slovakia. Despite IMO good developed highway and expressway system in the city we don´t have the full highway connection between Bratislava and Kosice yet (cca. half of the full route is in operation in several Slovak regions), but till 2010, according to our Ministry of transport sayings the complete highway conection should be established. This year should be in construction cca. 90-100 km of highways.
And yes, I agree, that Banska Bystrica is special. It is also one of my big favourites between the Slovak cities.

Let me also post more pictures from the 2002 and 2003 Ballon cups (races in baloons above Kosice):


Yellow building is the old shopping centre "Dargov" from the 80ies
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/5.jpg

Panorama of west Kosice I
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/7.jpg

Panorama of west Kosice II
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/8.jpg

Hotel academy
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/9.jpg

view on the street near the centre
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/11.jpg

Ice hockey stadium and Kid´s hospital building
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/13.jpg

View to the south
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/15.jpg

Railway depot
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/17.jpg

Building of Priemyselna banka (Industrial bank, blue one), junction between old and modern part of the city
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/19.jpg

And a view of commieblocks district, but including a shopping centre
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/25.jpg



Several more pictures:

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/22.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta03/29.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009874.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009884.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009911.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009895.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009891.jpg

http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009910.jpg

And the last aerial photos of Kosice:

Buidlings of research institute (left top) and example of new church
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2001/P0004551.jpg

Typical Kosice commieblock
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2001/P0004523.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/nadjazerom/P0004874.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/nadjazerom/P0004873.jpg

Expressways junction
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/2den/balon09.jpg

Bank building (Czechoslovak trade bank)
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/2den/balon03.jpg

And again, various shots
http://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/30.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/5.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/9.jpg
http://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/27.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/33.jpghttp://www.cassovia.sk/balonvirt/obrazcoky/26.jpg

Last, the look at the centre:
http://www.cassovia.sk/fiesta2002/1den/P0009866.jpg

Well, that´s it. :)

Wicky, do you have some map of highway network in Slovakia?

Long foot, current map of highways and expressways is here (http://www.telecom.gov.sk/top/edn2004.pdf) . The finished and construction sections are here (http://www.highways.sk/highways/img/highways_map.gif). The Tatra highway section to Poprad should start in March - a week ago consortium of Doprastav-Strabag won the tender. And, fresh news from yesterday, the most troubled section in the north - including several tunnels from 0,3 up to 7,5 km lenghts (some tunnels already have exploration tubes), cca. 80 km route Zilina-Ruzomberok will cost about 1,9 mld. Euro. Financed combined from state and private investments, this section should be started in 2006. Also some current information on www.highways.sk.

Kosice is my favourite city in Slovakia. I was there twice: first in late 90's and second in summer 2004. The Old City is beautiful, with this long main road with water canal inside. I'm a little bit confused that there is only 2,5% of Gypsies in the city. I noticed that in east Slovakia there is huge number of Gypsies, I would say about 20-30% or even more.

I have a strange feeling from your post. It is not just standard to begin the post with a turkish, arab, gypsy, or other nationalities in the city. However, I think you are a girl, so I really don´t want to be rude to you.
I am also sorry, that this thread turned about the national minorities. I am sure, that even in Ruda Slaska. your hometown, you have some kind of proportion of foreign, or other elements. But yes, in some areas of eástern and southern Slovakia they represent about 20 % of population. However, in Kosice they are in the district Lunik IX, as specified above and their proportion is about 2,5 % of city population.

And Kosice is really nice, former Slovak president Rudolf Schuster was almost 10 years the mayor of Kosice before he went for president candidacy. In the centre there are also the traces of his work.

The city itself has IMO quite compact old centre, where still you feel a much place to walk, chat, or just sit in a bar. Other parts are not so densed as well, the city stretches itself for a quite larger area, which makes it one of lower densities in Slovakia. Also the walks on the surrounding hills makes the city view worth.

Make your website functioning - this is personal, sorry. :bash:

cool pics Wicky!
I enjoy the aerials showing the unique St. Elisabeth's cathedral.

Technical informations about new terminal:

Position and location northern direction,among old passenger terminal and police station.
Build area 3530 m2
Utility area 4569m2
Capacity of terminal max.700 000 passenger per year
Total parking places 210 parking places
Parking area 79 parking places
Water-supply Barca-Letisko
Height of building max 39m


http://www.slovak-airports.net/ksc/ksc_6.jpg?PHPSESSID=8e92629cce33fc6f62c286d96a5017b2

http://www.slovak-airports.net/img/planes/800/169.jpg

http://www.slovak-airports.net/img/planes/800/168.jpg http://www.slovak-airports.net/img/planes/800/69.jpg

http://www.slovak-airports.net/ksc/ksc_18.jpg?PHPSESSID=8e92629cce33fc6f62c286d96a5017b2

http://www.slovak-airports.net/ksc/ksc_10.jpg?PHPSESSID=8e92629cce33fc6f62c286d96a5017b2

Peter, I think the capacity of the old terminal was about 300.th. passangers/year, so this can be a good contribution to the city development as well as the development of the whole region of eastern Slovakia.