From Croatia to the biggest hideout in Europe - Slovenia

An early start for me. Strolled down the Lower Zagreb in the direction of the train station, trying to grab some breakfast along the way, only to find out that Croatians don't tend to have breakfast outside! A quick detour to the train station and managed to get a 1pm train to Ljubljana for 90.20 KN. On my way back to Trg Jelacica Square, bought some bread from a local pastry shop and a coffee at the trusty Mcdonalds when I feel that I am in a risk-adverse mode for my caffeine fix.

Headed straight for the Dolac vegetable market in Upper Zagreb and was not disappointed by the hustle and bustle of a local market. Scores of stalls hawking their freshest produce, from apples to cauliflower to reddish. It was an explosion of colors with a infuse of bargaining everywhere, and goods exchanging hands. Very interesting to see that all the stalls were still using traditional weighing scales. I bought couple of pears and bananas before continuing my journey.

Think I am getting stale with the Old towns and cathedrals as I did not spend much time after before whisking back to the hostel, took my bag and headed towards the train station. Exchanged remaining 100 KN back to Euros (with a terrible rate) before probing a few locals if the train on platform 1 was to Ljubljana.

Got 2 other stamps at the border crossing in Dobova - Yay! I will really recommend anyone to take the train from Zagreb to the Slovenian capital - it twist and turn with the river and along with it, magnificent views of snow capped mountains and deep ravines across tiny pots of villages. Some of them are quite nice although I won't day that they are magical, but definitely a good change from the cityscape that I have been getting used to.

Hostel Celica is quite famous in Ljubljana (so much so that there is road signs directing drivers to the hostel!) as it was converted from a prison building and the rooms in the first level are constructed in such a way that they retain the prison cell feel - with the steel bar gates still intact. I booked the cheaper option of a 5 bed dorm which is on the 2nd level and has its own ensuite toilet/bathroom, although it feels quite claustrophobic as 3 single beds and 1 double deck bed was squeezed into it with a sloping roof on one end. 3 other German guys were my dorm mates and they seem happy to be just drinking around all day. Paid €15 for a night which included breakfast but I felt some of its other services could definitely been better, i.e. Wifi or internet is only free for 30 min, after which it is chargeable, the lady-in-charge at the reception refused to give me the keys to the room until I gave €10 as deposit even though I assured to pass her the amount later when I come back from tonight as I have run out of Euros. Ended up I had to walk out to the main road, withdraw more cash and come back again for the deposit!

As usual, headed to the Old Town, pass the dragon bridge where it was rumored that Jason and the Argonauts were rowing up the river trying to escape from enemies before he met and killed a dragon at that very spot! There were quite a lot of cafes lined at along the banks of the river and cafes seem to be part of the local culture. The town is quite small and the highlight has to be the climb up the castle which overlook the entire city, right across to the not-too-distant snow capped mountains. Bumped into Nicholle along the way, a Malaysian who is also working in London (we met at the reception in the hostel) and strolled around her Italian dorm buddy who has been staying in the city for 1 week, which meant he literally knew the place by the back of his head. Even chanced upon a Slovenian wedding that was taking pictures in and around the castle.

It turned out that we got along very well as she was also the same dialect group as I and was chatting about the food that we miss from home. She even related a past travel experience which turned out to be one of the one of the stories with the most wonderful ending that I have ever heard; long story short - she was in Bratislava, accidentally left her bag with money, cards, passport and everything important in the tram just before she was leaving for Wien, met a guy who offered to host her for the night, and happened to have a sister who has a policeman boyfriend, did his internal connections thing and voila, got her handbag back the next day with everything intact while the brother was showing her around in the city! Frankly I find it hard to believe but goes to show that there are really nice people in this world! :)

We went to a Slovenian restaurant, Sokol for dinner and almost ordered their specialty dish - Deep fried bull testicles with tartar sauce, but both of us chickened out in the end and ordered some other more subtle Slovenian dish. The restaurant is quite famous as they have waiters dressed in the traditional Slovenian costumes coming around to take your orders and serve the food. Nicholle's Italian mate did not join us as he wanted to have a romantic dinner with her, which she got me as an excuse to avoid! We headed back to the hostel to rest for an early morning bus ride to Bled the next morning.

Link to all photos in Zagreb and Slovenia.