Košice - Gothic towers, culture, hockey and Martina Hingis

From the special reporter "Vijesti"

What it looks like when a city is a meeting place of different cultures and historical eras and when it takes the best from all of that is an example of Košice, the second largest city in Slovakia.

From Gothic architecture, the oldest city coat of arms in Europe, through many palaces, interesting facades, parks, to today's industry, modern buildings, and even the Singing Fountain (in Slovak Spievajúca fontána) as a contemporary attraction.

Probably a little-known city in the plains near the Carpathians for many in Montenegro, the city where our national football team will play tonight is in some ways a hidden gem of this part of Europe.

This place in eastern Slovakia has the largest old town center, and Hlavna ulica (Main Street) is an example of what a city center should look like. This wide street is both pedestrian and, when necessary, passable for cars and trams, and is surrounded by historic buildings. It also has two large parks in its center, and in one of them there is the aforementioned fountain.

However, the symbol of the city is its giant, which has stood proudly in the center of Košice since 1283 - the magnificent Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. It is the largest church in Slovakia and one of the easternmost Gothic cathedrals in Europe.

Košice is particularly proud of its culture; 13 years ago, it was declared the European Capital of Culture, and it is included in the UNESCO network of creative cities.

Football will be the main sport in Košice these days when the national team is visiting, but every other day it's hockey. After all, the club that bears the city's name is one of the best in Slovakia, the champion from last season.

This city also has a beautiful football history, considering that the former club 1. FC Košice was the first Slovak club to qualify for the Champions League. Today, the best club is Košice, founded in 2018, whose colors were defended this season by our young national team player Vladimir Perišić.

Košice can also boast the second oldest marathon in the world, but also the fact that Martina Hingis was born in this city. The lady who is one of the biggest names in tennis moved to Switzerland at the age of seven and later made that country famous.

Why can everyone but us - part two

During our recent visit to Plovdiv, you could read how teams that are not top-level and cities that are not metropolises have a real stadium, but we don't have one?

It's a similar story with Košice. More precisely, its Football Arena is a true example of what a European stadium with a capacity of 12.500 can look like, unlike ours near Gorica, which can accommodate practically the same number of spectators.

This building opened four years ago, and was built with investments from the city and the state. The total value of the project was slightly more than 24 million euros.