Three Countries in one Blow to Košice (4,704 km)

(2022-05-22/23) Sunday is by far the best day to drive through the Maramureș County. People go to church in their Sunday best and the women confidently present their colorful costumes. Traditional fashion show at its best!

Through three countries, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, we head to Košice in Eastern Slovakia. The Jewish Cemetery is well-kept, picturesquely situated on a hill above the city and defies the anti-Semitic vandalism that flares up again and again.

Košice has achieved sad notoriety for the ghettoization of the Roma minority in the town district of Lunik IX. I have seen many Roma settlements in Europe, most recently just a week ago in Soroca in the Republic of Moldova. What I saw in Lunik IX surpasses anything I have ever seen in terms of immiserization. The contrast between this ghetto and the well-kept old town of Košice could not be greater.