Along with the Dragon bridge, the castle of Ljubljana is one of the main symbols providing spectacular views across the entire city.
Built over 900 years ago the walk to the top is hard work so make use of the little funicular railway that takes you up.
Exploring Ljubljana is like being inside a fairytale with some strange dragons 🐉 .
The Ljubljanica river runs through the heart of the city, crisscrossed with beautiful bridges and overlooked by a pretty castle on a hill. The cobbled streets on the riverbanks are lined with willow trees and cosy restaurants and bars. It’s even better in real life. Ljubljana also has a lovely calm, laid-back vibe to it. And it’s very hot on being green, in both senses of the word. There are trees and flowers everywhere, it’s spotlessly clean and it has one of the largest car-free zones in the EU. I think of it as a Scandinavian-style city but without the painful price tag
The city's symbol is the Ljubljana Dragon. It is depicted on the top of the tower of Ljubljana Castle in the Ljubljana coat of arms and on the Ljubljanica-crossing Dragon Bridge (Zmajski most).[26] It represents power, courage, and greatness.
Several explanations describe the origin of the Ljubljana Dragon. According to a Slavicmyth, the slaying of a dragon releases the waters and ensures the fertility of the earth, and it is thought that the myth is tied to the Ljubljana Marsh, the expansive marshy area that periodically threatens Ljubljana with flooding.[27] According to Greek legend, the Argonauts on their return home after having taken the Golden Fleece found a large lake surrounded by a marsh between the present-day towns of Vrhnika and Ljubljana. There Jason struck down a monster. This monster evolved into the dragon that today is present in the city coat of arms and flag.[28]
It is historically more believable that the dragon was adopted from Saint George, the patron of the Ljubljana Castle chapel built in the 15th century. In the legend of Saint George, the dragon represents the old ancestral paganism overcome by Christianity. According to another explanation, related to the second, the dragon was at first only a decoration above the city coat of arms. In the Baroque, it became part of the coat of arms, and in the 19th and especially the 20th century, it outstripped the tower and other elements in importance.
Ljubljana filled with Dragons 🐉
