short-trips

[short-trips]

Ljubliana is the capital of Slovenia and is home for about 300.000 inhabitants. I came there on valentines day and my first impression was, that people are extraordinary happy and friendly. The city is clean and full of live, even in corona times. It was an absolute pleasure just to stroll planless trough the old town next to the river, listening to traditional slovenian street musicians, laughing and slovenian language, seeing sculptures, beautiful architecture and a lot of bridges.

The City of Dragons

Legend has it that Ljubljana was founded by the Greek mythical bully Jason, who first stole the Golden Fleece from King Aites and then fled with his pirates across the Black Sea into the Danube and Sava rivers to the Ljubljanica river. There the outlaws disassembled the ship and took it to the Adriatic Sea to reassemble it and return to Greece. On the way towards the coast in the west, they stopped at a lake next to where a peaceful dragon lived on his mountain. Jason had anger issues, went there, poked the dragon in his left eye with his dirty finger, fought it and left in the belief that he killed it. But the wise dragon was faking his own death and until today is living on the mountain, while Jason is death. Now the dragon has his own castle and I even saw the door behind which he sleeps with my own eyes.

It was a very big door! Very impressive!

Hence, it is very understandable, that in the whole city of Ljubljana there are many artistic interpretations of the real dragon. The symbolism of the dragon has been present in Ljubljana for ages. In the medieval coat of arms, it was first present as an ornament, until later it took a central position:

Over time, the lizard became a protector of the city, representing strength, courage and wisdom. It can also be found on the "dragonbridge" next to which my hotel was located. There is an urban legend about the four dragons guarding the bridge, eventhough they are not real and are made out of metal:

"According to local legends, when a virgin crosses the bridge, the dragons will wag their tails. Some local people have nicknamed this structure "mother-in-law" because of its fiery nature"

(source: Wikipedia )

In total, it was an amazing city with wonderful people and I really want to come back!

Hvala!