After Hvar, I knew I had to rush things a bit. I’m meeting up with friends in Salzburg for a music festival and I still had a long way to go. I was on a tight budget so I had to travel by land. I spent a couple of nights in 2 more places in Croatia— Zadar and Zagreb. From Split it was easy to get to Zadar. There are buses leaving every hour or so, and a one way ticket costs about 75-110 Kunas. The trip takes about 3-4 hours. I only spent one night in Zadar so I don’t have enough material for a separate blog entry. I have to say I loved it though. It also has beautiful historic attractions like Split and Dubrovnik, but it’s not as crowded and it’s definitely cheaper. In fact, there are many areas where there were barely any crowds. It’s also the jump off point to the other popular islands in Croatia like Pag (where the popular Zrce Beach is). I’m gonna make it a point to return to Zadar the next time I visit the country.
It’s also easy to get to Zagreb from Zadar. A bus ticket costs about 100 Kunas, and the trip takes about 4 hours. In terms of attractions I wasn’t too fond of Zagreb. There’s an old part of the city, but I wasn’t too impressed after seeing what the other places in Croatia had to offer. It’s real cheap in the city though— at least it’s gonna feel cheap after you’ve been to Dubrovnik or Split. I just find it odd how everything was cheaper considering it was a capital city. If you’re just staying for a night in the city and you’re not interested in exploring, I suggest staying at the Wallaby House. It’s the only hostel within walking distance from the main bus station. And in case you want to check out some sights you can easily take the tram.
Slovenia is between Croatia and Austria. I wanted to check out some attractions in the country too, that’s why I kinda rushed through Croatia after Hvar. From Zagreb, I planned to go to Ljubljana, the capital of the country. It’s a popular bus route, there are multiple buses leaving every hour. I realized that I was heading back to the Schengen area… this meant I could use my trusty Flixbus app again! I checked the bus schedule. A single journey ticket usually costs about 10 Euros. There’s a bus leaving at 11 AM that was only for 6 Euros so I quickly bought a ticket for that one. lol.
It was a quick bus ride. We arrived in Ljubljana after about 2 1/2 hours. Ever since I’ve heard of this place I’ve had trouble pronouncing it. A local taught me the right way. She said Slovenians pronounce J’s as Y’s. Croatians do too but I didn’t notice. So it’s pronounced as “lyub-lyana“. Now that wasn’t so hard now was it? The weird thing was when locals pronounced it, it seemed like the Y’s were silent. I kept hearing “lub-lana“. lol.
Ljubljana is peculiar for a capital city in that it seemed to be very laid back. I’ve come to associate capital cities as frantic, hectic and overly crowded— reasons why I’m not too fond of them. I did see some crowds at the touristy spots, but I can never described those places as crowded. Most travelers in Europe frequently skip Slovenia and prioritize going to its more popular neighboring countries so the lack of crowds makes sense. Also unlike most modern capital cities, there were barely any tall buildings. It’s pretty similar to those small cities littered throughout Europe.
After checking in I went straight to the old town which was only 5 minutes away from the hostel. The architecture is pretty similar to other old towns in Eastern Europe. Most tourists are gathered in this area, and there are many restaurants and bars along the river catering to them. But as I’ve said, even though there were a lot of people it never looked crowded. After an hour or two of just walking around, I decided to head up the hill to the castle. It took me about 30 minutes to reach the top. There’s a clearly marked path that begins in the old town so it’s hard to get lost. On top of the hill you’ll be rewarded with a nice view of the city. A lot of people head up here to wait for the sunset. During the summer the castle is open until 11 PM so you can still check it out once the sun has set. If you wanna go inside the castle, a ticket costs 7.50 euros. If you want to take the funicular as well it’s gonna cost 10 Euros. Even if you choose not to go inside the castle I’d say doing the short hike up is worth it. The view is pretty good for one thing. There are also lots of places to chill and relax in the surrounding area.
One thing Ljubljana lacks is a proper nightlife. I expected it. Seeing that there aren’t too many people around I doubted if there are lots of party goers. There are pub crawls running every night but people were not recommending them on weekdays because on weekdays the nightlife is pretty dead. Thus you’re gonna hear a lot of backpackers saying the city is boring. Most bars along the river would close before midnight. After having a couple of drinks by the river, we headed to Metelkova as suggested by a couple of locals. It used to be the headquarters of the former Yugoslavian army, now it’s popular during the day time because of street art and graffiti. At night time, people head there for the bars. We checked out a bar that played heavy metal music. No one was inside, everyone seemed to stay outside. At a little past midnight, the music stopped playing. And then lo and behold they were already locking the front door, reminding everyone to properly dispose of the beer bottles we were holding. Apparently the bars here also close at around midnight. And we were told that this was the place to party on weekdays??? lol. It was still quite early so we decided to just walk around the city and hopefully we’ll find a bar that was still open. When we were close to our hostel, we heard loud music blaring so we decided to look for where it was coming from. It’s a place called Parlament, and it’s right by the city park! Apparently it’s a coffee shop during the day time, and they turn it into a club late at night. The best part? it’s open until 4 AM on weekdays! In Ljubljana, that’s unbelievable!
Despite the lacking nightlife, I did like Ljubljana. It doesn’t really stand out so it’s not a must visit place for people traveling around Europe. But for those people who have enough time and would want to visit a less popular place, I’d recommend passing by for a night or two. It’s a quaint little city with its own charms, I doubt if anyone would regret passing through.
no roads to follow 
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