Rick Steves Says These Irresistible Desserts Are 'Reason Enough' To Visit Slovenia's Luxurious Lake Bled

When booking a trip to Europe, some people go for the usual suspects like France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. However, you should absolutely consider Slovenia as your next destination. Slovenia is a country travel pro Rick Steves has called an unexpected charmer, with its wonderful wine-growing regions, hiking, and mountains, not to mention the history. Slovenia is one of the safest, most welcoming countries in Europe, and if you're going to visit, you must stop by the lovely, shimmering Lake Bled. However, Steves has another reason for you to visit beyond the historical and natural sights. On his website, Steves says that you have to visit the city of Bled to try its famous dessert, the kremna rezina, also called kremšnita.

Steves explains, "No matter what, be sure to try the town's sweet specialty, a cream cake called kremna rezina: a layer of cream and a thick layer of vanilla custard artfully sandwiched between sheets of delicate, crispy crust." He says it's "reason enough" for people who live in the country to flock to Bled, in addition to foreign tourists. It looks like a sandwich made of clouds and cream, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and if you try it, you may be booking your return trip before you've even left Slovenia.

Slovenia's Bled, home of the famous Lake Bled, is easy to get to from the nearby Ljubljana International Airport, which is a mere half-hour drive from the city, with lots of connections from other parts of Europe. You may as well go straight to a dessert spot when you get there, and you won't be alone in doing so. Thousands of kremna rezina cakes are consumed in Bled every day during the peak season. It all goes back to the Park Hotel in 1953, when Ištvan Lukačević, who moved to Slovenia after World War II, created and served this sweet and fluffy creation full of vanilla custard, whipped cream, and puff pastry. You'll find this popular dessert all over, including the Park Hotel where it originated, Slaščičarna Zima, and Café Belvedere, to name a few spots.

You can get the dessert to go and, as Rick Steves suggests, sit on a dock and watch the serene lake in front of you while you enjoy it (or another Slovenian dessert he recommends, the grmada — meaning "bonfire" — which is leftover cake with rum, milk, custard, raisins, cream, and chocolate syrup). You don't have to worry about burning off the calories because one of the other quintessential Bled activities is walking the 4-mile route around the lake or hiking in the hills beyond it. You can also grab some cake and take a boat out to the small island in Lake Bled that looks like a medieval fairytale. Boats can be rented from a number of places around the lake, like Pletna Boathouse, where one costs around $25 for the first hour at the time of this writing.