Bled - 2nd visit

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http://www.heygo.com 9th February - Bled - Slovenia

Another visit to Lake Bled, today we are walking along the lakeside pathway to St.Martin’s Parish church.

Bled consists of 5 villages so there is no Central Square. As we walked along the pathway Neza, our guide told stories how she swims in the lake most days in the summer months, the rowing competitions that take place along the canoe corridor on the lake and details of the lake itself.



The lake’s deepest point is 30 m and its average annual temperature is 12 °C, reaching up to 25 ° C in July. there are several species of predator fish swimming in the lake and amongst them, some really old, big, giant fish. We heard about Max, a Catfish of more than 8 feet in length but sadly it died in 2014.



We reach the Parish Church - A Gothic Revival structure built from 1903 until 1905. The church contained a number of frescoes painted in 1930 including one portraying Vladimir Lenin as Judas Iscariot in a depiction of the Last Supper.



There are also marble altars, different sculptures, huge pipe organs looking down from the back of the church and a majestic chandelier that seems to be the central part of this religious building.



At the site of St Martin’s Church, there used to be a much smaller, wooden church dating back to the 11th century. Over the years the church was rebuilt until it was completely demolished in 1903,



In front of today’s church there is a Pillar of Virgin Mary.



Above the door was the coat of arms of the Republic of Slovenia.

Since 27 July 2013, the area in front of the church has been called Slovenski trg, which has a linden tree planted in the year of the proclamation of Slovene statehood (1991) and a large flagpole.



In 1918, Slovenes formed Yugoslavia along with Serbs and Croats. The state of Slovenia was created in 1945 as part of federal Yugoslavia. Slovenia gained its independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991, and is today a member of the European Union and NATO.



Our tour was coming to an end but not before we heard about Bled’s Honey bees.

Bee-keeping in Slovenia is a traditional agricultural activity. In the middle of the 18th century, bee-keeping was presented to the world by Anton Janša.

He was the pioneer of modern bee-keeping and the first bee-keeping teacher in Vienna. On 20 May, his birthday, is World Bee Day.



The large beehive had beautifully painted decorative panels, originating from folk awareness and imagination.



We saw a few bees coming and going from this colourful hive.

A lovely end to the tour.

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