A dear friend of mine who lives in Budapest sent me a message couple weeks before the trip saying she'll be close and we should meet up. At first I though she'll be passing through Zagreb or somewhere else in Croatia, but no, she was going to Ljubljana for the weekend.  "Can I join you?" I asked her and her answer was positive. So now she wasn't planing the trip on her own but we were going together. She searched for some places we should see but we didn't prepare much, we even booked the hostel after midnight on the day of the travel and found a host on couchsurfing around the same time.



We both went by train. It's the most relaxed way to travel, it's spacious, you're surrounded by beautiful scenery, don't experience traffic jams... the only downside could be that it takes longer than by other means of transport. My ride wasn't too long, it was something under 3 hours but her was around 8.


We stayed at the Sleeping Beauty Hostel which is located by the Dragon Bridge. I didn't take any photos of the hostel (click on the name to go to their booking.com profile) but it's cosy. It's family run so they give you all the attention, the lady cleans everything every mornings, gives clean towels, offers you tea/coffee and even by the arrival they offered us to switch rooms if we wanted. We booked 2 beds in a 6bed room but there were mostly men, so they told us we can move to the 7bed room which we did. The people in it were much younger and there were more girls. The mattress wasn't too thick but it was alright to sleep on. The bathroom is pretty and clean and there are many mirrors around the hostel. It was very cheap ( we paid 18€ each for 2 nights )  and close to everything.  Also on Monday we needed to check out by 11 but we could leave our things there for the entire day and pick them up in the afternoon when we were moving to our hosts place.


For all 3 days we walked around, explored the city, admired it's beauty and were reading menu's of restaurants to check if they have vegetarian/vegan options. Every Sunday morning there's a flea market by the river (before Cobblers' Bridge) lasting till lunch time so we definitely wanted to visit it. I won't talk much about what we did but just show you some of the places we saw and make a list of places you should visit if you're in Ljubljana.



On the flea market you can find all sort of things but honestly I was expecting lover prices. I love old mirrors, looking glasses, photos, postcards and cameras. All that could be found there. Sisi wanted to get some pretty pins but we believe she got a tourist price for them.


Where's the best view? From the castle ofc! We tried to go by foot on Saturday but it was impossible cos the path we choose was too slippery. on Sunday we took the funicular and also the ticket for the castle which was 10€ for her and 7€ for me (I can't believe I got a student discount by showing my croatian studient ID ) in total, The view is AMAZING and the castle is stunningly redone. All I could think while being there is what we did in a class while I studied Art History and was repeating in my head: "Croatia learn from your neighbours, leaaarn!!!". It's modern, interactive, well represented, interesting, you can touch things, play games, watch videos... (khm, everything Croatia is still learning how to do).


AMAZING FACT: From the top of the castle, the tower from which the flag is seen flying, you can see 1/3 of the entire country during clear weather. That's probably one of the reasons why I wanna go back in late spring. This time it was foggy but the view was still majestic.


On Monday we met up with friends and they took us to Pritličje. A lovely artsy picturesque bar/night club and told us about other places to visit. Sisi and I were eyeing this place from the outside cos it looks so cool and was full of young people whenever we passed by it. Also it's a LGBT meeting point or however it would be called. Which is even a greater plus. We haven't explored it entirely, we were just in the "front part" but I've seen some stone wall and big space behind the arch doorway. If you're a tea person come here, even tho there are couple tea houses. Here they serve it in transparent glasses and have many flavours and they're fresh. Sisi and Kristina had mint + lemon, Martin had ginger and something and I had hemp tea. And it was all from fresh ingredients.

From left to right: Sisi | Kristina | Martin | me

The street with many little shops and restaurants whose name I don't know nor can find on maps because every few meters are called "something square" is so cute and we passed it so many times and so will you probably if you go to Ljubljana. What I loved about Ljubljana is that they have so many little hmm I can't remember the word but let's say little Slovenian design stores. They have so many cute things and when you see their window you need to get in and check the rest of the stuff they have.


The sweets are from Zvezda Deli. We didn't get anything but there are so many good things. They even have vegan and raw cakes!

One of the cool spots if you're into street art is Metelkova.

After the exploring we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and were on our way to the student dorms where Brina would host us.



Brina is such a positive, sweet, inspirational and interesting person. Her dorm room is beautifully decorated and gives you a homey feeling as same as she does. Couchsurfing is a great place to make friends in a foreign country.


I tried not to swamp you with too many photos at once. I hope you enjoyed going through them as much as I enjoyed taking them.