On 29 January 2014 ESN Košice organised a one day trip to Bardejov city and spa. The coordinators were Barbora Uličná and Barbora Korchnak. This trip was especially organised for fourteen students who are attending an Erasmus Intensive (Slovak) Language Course in Košice (EILC). We were exploring the UNESCO town Bardejov and enjoying the nice sunny weather and snowy landscape around us.

After we arrived to Bardejov, the city inscribed on the UNESCO heritage list, we went to look at the medieval walls in the historical city centre. 

Later, we went to the main square where we saw historical buildings. At the Town hall we found a small funny statue of man with naked ass, which was a symbol of grievance. 

Then we tried out our international students and their Slovak language skills through competition. The first one who found a Slovak friend by using only Slovak language won a drink. The winner was Juan from Spain. 

Then we visited the main monument – a gothic cathedral of St. Egidius. We enjoyed the beautiful view of the whole town from the top of the tower, which looked like a sugared gingerbread. Helene from Norway counted how many stairs are in the tower, 105 stairs! It was hard to get up to the tower but it was worth it!

Then we had a really tasty lunch in a nice restaurant Gurmán.

Afterwards we walked to a small "John Lennon" park dedicated to The Beatles. The names of the members of the band and their most famous songs are engraved in huge rocks there. We tried to sing some songs of The Beatles and it was so funny :D.

Then we moved by bus to the area of Bardejov spa where at first we had a lot of fun by snowball fighting and then we enjoyed traditional spa wafers "Kúpeľné oplátky".

Later we went to "SKANZEN" - an open air museum of Slovak culture with historical Slovak houses, a wooden church and typical folklore clothing. We have seen how ordinary Slovak people have lived in the past.

Then we moved to the last point of our schedule - three hours of wellness saunas and swimming pools.

To sum it up, we learned about Slovak culture and enjoyed a really healthy day with fresh air, walking, good food, and relax. 

author: Barbora Korchňáková, ESN Košice
photos:  Heidi Mesipuu, Elif Çetin, Barbora Korchňáková, Kisesa Addoh