@gigigriffis, you and @kevin.frei are really selling me on this beautiful women thing ;).
Thanks for the followup! I appreciate the clarification on it being hip, that sounds like what I thought you meant, and exactly what I think Iโm looking for (except for the dancing, since Iโm far too shy, and the good burgers because vegetarian ). It does sound like a really interesting dichotomy, not only with the town being old, but also between that โhipโ, โyoungโ vibe, and with conservative, religious culture. Iโm not sure if Iโd be happy there, but it sounds very intriguing!
@greenhorn, I get what youโre saying better, now, thanks for the clarification! The dateable coffee shop thing I think is a huge thing for me, which goes along with what @gigigriffis was saying about Split being hip. Like, I think an ideal DN experience for me is:
The first few days: Walk around a ton the first few days and get a feel for different neighborhoods and specific bars and coffee shops and so on.
Every other day: Go into my favorite coffee shop and set up to work (where ideally Iโm a regular and I can chat with the employees). For example, in Bergen, there was this little โbook cafeโ that had fresh cinnamon buns every few hours, with cute furniture, a piano, tons of books, and a lot of young people. Ideally, a lot of people come in and out during the day, and maybe I end up having a conversation with one or two. I just want to meet people and hopefully find people that I have a good vibe with. If Iโve made friends, at night itโd be fun to go to bars or play a board game or something like that.
So, given that, maybe fewer interesting coffee shops and bars where people hang out could be a big detriment to me. But, I really only need a few, so maybe I could get by? And, the friendliness thing sounds really ideal to me. Ljubljana sounds very โme.โ A lot of the positives, and actually the negatives as well, apply to Bergen, I think, and Iโm obsessed with Bergen. I think Iโd really appreciate the friendly culture. Coming up with descriptors for cultures can be so tricky, especially because there are a lot of different ways to be friendly and subtle shades of differences across cultures, and then of course, like you said, there are always enclaves of all sorts of people everywhere.
@kevin.frei, Edinburgh is actually extremely extremely high on my list! Iโm a bit put off by the cost, but I guess with the brexit and everything it looks like the whole UK is down in price on this site at least. Iโll note it for August of next year if not sooner .
Anyways, thanks for all the help guys! Any further advice is welcome, as well, as I am always changing my plans. I think right now all 3 of these cities sound amazing. Iโll probably start in Split (although now I wanna look up other coastal cities in Croatia as well), and see how Iโm feeling after a week or 2. Sarajevo and Ljubljana are pretty close by, so I would still go check them out, either for a quicker trip if Iโm absolutely loving Split and making friends, or set up there for an extended period if Iโm not quite as much. Edinburgh, Prague, Stockholm, and Copenhagen are probably my main follow-up destinations if I end up not feeling fulfilled in the Balkans!