After two days in Zagreb, Croatia we are off to Ljubljana, Slovenia by FlixBus. Funnily enough our bus’s final destination is Munich. The last days in Zagreb at times have felt like we hadn’t left. When we first set out into the city yesterday, we stumbled into the main square and were greeted by the sounds of accordion music. We jokingly said ‘don’t tell me this is an Oktoberfest in Zagreb’ and as we got closer we saw it was actually a group of 20 accordion players at a fair promoting Slovenia which conveniently was our next destination. However we still heard familiar tunes such as the “Zillertaller Hohchzeitsmarsch” and Wies’n favorite “Que Sera, Sera” playing across the square.

After lunch and a coffee we set off to explore. First was the lower town. We walked along the pedestrian street which is lined with restaurants and bars and eventually found our way to the main cathedral. This is by far the tallest structure in the city and dominates the skyline. After some more wandering we decided to look for the funicular that would take us to the upper town. This funicular is one of the oldest in Europe and what we didn’t realize until we reached it is that it is one of the shortest because we actually ended up at the top of it rather than the bottom. Yes – we did notice we were walking some what uphill but the incline to the upper town is not that steep (as evidenced by the shortest funicular in the world) but the views from the promenade at the top were spectacular. We explored the upper town including several beautiful churches and one of the old town gates. As we were heading back toward the lower town we saw a sign for a bar advertising ‘the best view of Zagreb’ and intrigued we decided to wander down the hallway and windy staircase and found ourselves on a large terrace with a spectacular view over the old town and cathedral. After a glass of Croatian wine and a local craft beer while enjoying the view we made our way back through the upper town to climb to the top of the Lotrscak tower just in time for beautiful sunset views over the city.

This was our second visit to Croatia in the past 5 months and both times we have really enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of the people we met and all the cities we visited. Currently we are sitting waiting to cross into the Slovenian border and back into the EU. Although our trip to Zagreb was just a way to get out of the Schengen Zone once our German resident visa ended in order to be able to re-enter on a tourist visa we are glad we had the chance to explore this beautiful town with all of its stunning architecture and charm. Another favorite country of ours – Slovenia – awaits!