Ljubljana, Slovenia

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We'd heard Ljubljana was a really cool town so we decided to spend a couple nights there and check it out. We stayed in the Metelkova area at the infamous Celica Hostel. This place used to be a Yugoslavian military jail and is now owned by the city and renovated into a really funky looking hostel. There are several former prison cells you can stay in and every room is decorated by different local artists.

The only downside to travelling Slovenia was the banking system. Our RBC bank card (containing all of our money) is not accepted anywhere in the country. The bank machines said they worked on the system that our card uses and Royal Bank even recommended places for us to go to but after a full day of searching for cash, we were still broke. We finally went to the headquarters of one of the national banks where they told us that we were basically screwed with the RBC card but we did discover that my trusty local Credit Union card was money in the bank (literally). We made an emergency phone call to the parents to transfer some funds for us and before we knew it, we had enough money to eat again.

That night we went out to the Metelkova Mesto area to party with the money we'd spent all day acquiring. This area was an ex-army garrison slated for demolition before being taken over by squatters after independence. The place is now a sort of commune for artists and contains about 8 music venues all bunched around an area looking like a rundown parking lot. There's grafiti everywhere and really cool, dark buildings that lead to even darker industrial-style rooms playing different kinds of music. Our hostel is also right in the middle of the whole thing so there was no avoiding it. We spent the night moving around to different venues including one playing indie rock music over old Yugoslavian claymations cartoons and another in what looked like an old cabin (including wood stove) where the DJ had fallen asleep behind his setup. Interesting evening that's for sure.

It was a good week in Slovenia and now we're officially leaving the EU and heading for the Balkan countries. We're getting on a train to Zagreb, Croatia.

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Photos

Ljubljana
Metelkova Mesto by day

Ljubljana
Just your average building in the neighbourhood

Ljubljana
Helpful signage

Ljubljana
Hey mom, we're being extra careful over here in Europe. We only stick to the good neighbourhoods.

Ljubljana
Okay, now things are getting a little creepy