The lungs of Zagreb
A mountain that is one with the city
If it wasn't for Medvednica, Zagreb would not be what it is, it would significantly lose its appeal. Medvednica is a rare example of a nature park entering a capital city. The hill is that close to the city that there is even a spring race, Boroša, that starts on Jelačić square and leads to the top, to Sljeme. The almost fourteen kilometers, mostly uphill, very steep at the very end, can be run in less than an hour by the fastest ones, and for those who are less fit it takes about an hour and forty minutes to make it to the top.
Weekend Crowds at Medvednica
Sljeme, the top, is at an altitude of 1033 meters. A lot of people from Zagreb, or at least those who don't know of or don't visit Medvednica very often, refer to Sljeme as the whole hill not just the top. For them Sljeme and Medvednica are just synonyms for the same thing. On the other hand, thanks to the fact it is almost one with Zagreb, Medvednica is the most visited mountain in Croatia.
The forests of Medvednica have always been of exceptional importance for the life of its people. There is an old saying: In the springtime I offer you rest, in summer shade, in autumn I feed you and in winter I keep you warm. Up until recently, this was all merit of the trees of Medvednica. This is where people who lived at the foot of the mountain collected wood for heating, knowing exactly what wood burns the best, and which is best to make charcoal of; in the springtime people would collect young sprouts of herbaceous plants full of vitamins much needed during long winters, in the summer wild strawberries, blackberries, red berries and blueberries, and
in autumn mushrooms and many chestnuts, rose hip, nuts and cornelian cherries, etc.
However, people have always entered the kingdom of the forest with caution and respect for it was believed to be a home to magical beings, wellintentioned to those who respect their world, and merciless to those who don't know it or disrespect it in any way.
People's imagination has often found in the bushes, leaves and flowers a little forest man called Mucko or Žirek who drinks juice squeezed from the flowers of the goldmoss stonecrop in order to become invisible and blend in with the unique appearance of the forest. He never liked being followed and would always lead reckless forest visitors the wrong way so they would get lost. Considered especially magical are the oak forests filled with all kinds of bellshaped flowers which attract fairies.
A mountain with no bears
The mountain stretches from Podsused, the southwest of Zagreb towards northeast, to a small town called Sveti Matej-Laz; the backbone of Medvednica is 42 kilometers long. It was formed after a ground uplift and therefore its slopes are rather steep (especially those facing Zagorje) and at its foot there are thermal springs such as those in Stubičke spa, springs in Sutinsko, one near Dubravica in Gornji Stenjevec and in the Ribnjak Park in Zagreb. In the past, Medvednica was twice under the sea, an island in the Pannonian Sea, hence its caves. Along with Vetrenica, the most famous cave, there is also the Velika Peć in the east part of the mountain.
There are eight special reservoirs of forest vegetation in the Nature Park. There are also three trees protected by law - two old jew trees, one found at Horvatove stube (Horvat stairs), another on Šupljak and Gubec Linden Tree (Gupčeva lipa) in Gornja Stubica.
The majority of the diverse plants are in the area of beech forests. More than 80% of the Nature Park is covered in twelve different forest communities with over 1200 plant species. The forest of Medvednica used to have wolves, lynxes and bears roaming around, but it is now home to wild boars, foxes, martens, rabbits, etc.
Two years ago a wild cat was spotted, it is assumed that there aren't many of them though. The last bear, according to data available, was killed in the Middle
Ages, and Medvednica (the name has the word bear in its root) is now a mountain with no bears. There are 24 bat species living in the Park. In spring, summer and early autumn they can be seen in Vetrenica, a cave where bear's bones were found. Vetrenica's branching canals are over seven kilometers long and are among the longest in Croatia.
The mountain also has over 70 bird species nesting there. The Neanderthal man found its hiding in the Vetrenica cave. Other attractions include two medieval fortresses, high on its peaks. At the very edges there are two towns - Susedgrad in the west, Zelingrad in the east, and in the middle of the mountain, at the top Mali Plazur, the old Medvedgrad which can easily be seen when looking at Medvednica from Zagreb. Just take a look.
| 1. Medvedgrad Fortress/ Zoran Jelača | 2. Medvednica Cave/ Alan Čaplar | 3. Sljeme/ Alan Čaplar | 4. Šestine/ Alan Čaplar | 5. Medvedgrad / Alan Čaplar | 6. The Chapel of St. Jakob/ Alan Čaplar | 7. Medvedgrad/ Alan Čaplar | 8. Medvednica/ Joško Fabris | 9. Gorsko Zrcalo cliff/ Alan Čaplar | 10. Činovnička livada and the TV tower/ Alan Čaplar
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