Seeking Healing in Slovenia's Alpine Lake

Lake Bled was stunning. However, as an 18-year-old who was literally “just along for the ride” as my au pair family travelled through Slovenia, I did not understand enough about the place to appreciate it at the time.

In fact, the strongest memory I have of stopping there is trying prosciutto-wrapped melon for the very first time (does that tell you something about how good that dish is? Or at least how unique a flavour combo it was).

when I was younger I didn't take a lot of travel photos, but this food combo was so strange that I had to capture it!

What I didn’t realize during that visit was the historical significance of the island, as both a religious and holistic wellness site. 

It was inhabited centuries before a certain Jew was born, housing Slavic people and what appears to have been a temple dedicated to Živa, an old Slavic goddess of life, seeding, and harvest.

thanks to Wikimedia for this depiction of Živa from 1722

As the area Christianized, the island became home to a pilgrimage church dedicated to the Mary, Mother of God. Not only was it a place of pilgrimage, but a place of death - archeological digs have discovered over one hundred graves on the island from the 8th and 9th centuries AD.

During that brief stop, I also didn’t have a chance to recognize the long-established healing power of Lake Bled. What started in the 1600s as pilgrims coming to bathe in the thermal springs of Bled and improve their health ultimately became a health and wellness enterprise in the later half of the 1800s. 

Today, you can choose from a number of health and holiday resorts that hug the shoreline, allowing you to immerse yourself in the peaceful serenity that is Bled. When I go back, you can bet I’ll be doing just that!

My interest in Lake Bled was recently re-piqued as I scrolled through a “free reference photos for artists” group on Facebook, and came across the most stunning shots by photographer Andrea Ludman. She took such a perfect photo of Lake Bled, that I just had to paint it.

my miniature 2.5x3.5 inch painting of the church on Lake Bled

Have you been to Bled? How was your own experience with the lake?