In the beliefs of the Slavs, there were many Slavic mythological places that could not be visited because nobody knows where they are. The most well known among those places are Vitor Mountain, sacred forest of Zutibor (yellow pine forest) and Troyan’s City.

Vitor Mountain

Vitor is a mystical mountain that everybody knows about but at the same time, nobody knows where it is. It has been said that the Vitor Mountain lies high in the clouds or sometimes that it’s only surrounded by clouds and that it changes its place of existence the way the winds blow.

Many people had that luck to find Vitor, but only by chance, and they could never find it again for the rest of their lives no matter how hard they looked for it. It is believed that this strange place is the home of dragons. In Slav tradition, every major hero is a descendent of dragons, so this mountain could be also called the home of heroes.

History says that the famous Svetovid’s Arkona was built on a small island called Vitora. Also, in today’s Bosnia there’s a mountain by the name of Vitorog and a peak of the same name in Serbia.

Sacred forest of Zutibor

Zutibor is a sacred forest shrouded in mystery. It’s a home of a mysterious goddess of unknown name. The golden goddess of the Zutibor forest could be the mysterious Lada. Little is known about Lada, she might be a local name of Vesna, the goddess of spring, but some believe that she was the goddess of love and beauty.

One legend speaks of the “Temple of Three Idols” named Lada, Boda and Lyelya, near Kiev in today’s Ukraine. This great temple had it’s existence confirmed by archeological findings and it is said that it resided in a clearing, on a mountain, surrounded by a stone wall, far away from the homes of people that gathered there once a year at the beginning of May. This sacred forest (and there were probably more than one sacred forests in Slavic tradition), wherever it is, is the home of a beautiful goddess that the Lyutic tribe respected enormously. They even had her face on their flags.

Troyan’s city

Old folk tales say that Troyan was a demon, living in his forest castle only to leave at night to rape girls and women. He’s afraid of the sunlight that would burn him. This could be a beginning of now worldwide legend of vampires. Contrary to popular beliefs, the word vampir (vampire) originated in Serbia, well before the famous count Dracula. It is also said that Troyan’s forest castles and cities are abandoned, in ruins, and full of snakes and other demonic creatures that scare the living daylight from anyone who passes by.

Slavs from many regions believe that the particular ruins near them are remnants of the legendary Troyan’s city. Almost every region knows of Slavic mythological places to avoid, because you never know if Troyan is around. Some think that the legends about Troyan the demon originated from the Roman Emperor Trayan and that would suggest that the Slavs were there long before the timeline that official history holds.

More often, Troyan is seen as the modification of the god Triglav (three heads). There are also tales about Emperor Troyan in which he has three heads, rides his horse at night, is scared of the sunlight and usually had goat or donkey ears.