Bled IslandSunrise at Lake Bled. The church on Bled Island has a 52-meter (171 ft) tower.The lake surrounds Bled Island (Blejski otok). The island has several buildings, the main one being the pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary (Cerkev Marijinega vnebovzetja), built in its current form near the end of the 17th century. It is decorated with remains of Gothic frescos from around 1470 in the chancel, and with rich Baroque furnishing.[8]The church has a 52 m (171 ft) tower and there is a Baroque stairway dating from 1655 with 99 stone steps leading up to the building. The church is frequently visited and weddings are held there regularly. Traditionally it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up the steps on the day of their wedding before ringing the bell and making a wish inside the church.A modern pletna shows tourists around the lake.The traditional transportation to Bled Island is a wooden boat known as a pletna.[9] The word pletna is a borrowing from Bavarian German Plätten 'flat-bottomed boat'.[10] Some sources claim the pletna was used in Lake Bled as early as AD 1150, but most historians date the first boats to AD 1590.[11]Similar in shape to Italian gondolas, a pletna seats 20 passengers. Modern boats are still made by hand and are recognizable by their colorful awnings. Pletna oarsman employ the stehruder (standing rowing) technique to propel and navigate boats across the lake using two oars. The role of the oarsman dates back to 1740, when Maria Theresa of Austria granted 22 local families exclusive rights to ferry religious pilgrims across Lake Bled to worship on Bled Island.[12] The profession is still restricted. Many modern oarsmen descend directly from the original 22 families.[13]GastronomyThe area's culinary specialty, a cream pastry (kremna rezina or kremšnita 'Cremeschnitte'), was designated a protected dish of designated origin in 2016 by the Slovene government.[14] Slovene cream pastries date back to the Habsburg era.[15] The current "official" recipe was created in 1953 by Ištvan Luka?evi?, the former manager of the Hotel Park's patisserie.[16]There is an annual festival dedicated to the pastry. It is estimated that 12 million cream pastries have been prepared at the Hotel Park's patisserie over the last 60 years.[17]
|
