I was born and bred in Kosice, so I believe I'm quite qualified to talk about this nomination. And let me tell you straight away, both Ivan and I think it's a bit of a joke. I believe it's just a gimmick someone thought about because they couldn't say: well, it's got this one street and it's very pretty. So even though I am a local patriot, I have to be frank and admit I don't see a reason for inscribing Kosice.

Having said that, the city centre is lovely: it's one long street, the Hlavna Street with reconstructed brook symbolically flowing in its middle, except for a small "island" with the theatre, Singing fountain and the St. Elizabeth Cathedral. That's what makes the lens part of the town core. The Hlavna Street is flanked by another two parallell streets with lovely old architecture, one on each side: Masiarska and Kovacska.

You can walk along the streets and enjoy drinks in one of the many cafés. There used to be much more shopping opportunities, but most of the shops have moved to one of too many shopping centres. What I like about the Hlavna Street is the fact that most of the buildings from neo-baroque era are still standing, only three ugly cubes mar the uniformity of the look: Tesco's, The House of Footwear and the most ugly of them all, Doubletree by Hilton.

You can enjoy it in half a day, same as Bratislava and if you like sports, Kosice holds annual International Peace Marathon, the oldest marathon in Europe with prestigious participation and it makes for a lively day of walking around city centre, cheering the runners.