Tourist Information Center:TIC Radovljica
Linhartov trg 9, Radovljica
++386 4 531 51 12
Along the local road between the villages of
Brezje and
Begunje, you will find several authentic agrarian villages, two of which sit by the roadside village of
Zgornji Otok and the clustered village of
Spodnji Otok with the
Church of St John the Baptist.
The development of Zgornji Otok was particularly rapid following the construction of the Emperor's Road in the eighteenth century. The houses in Zgornji Otok served food and drinks to travellers and traders, and also provided equipment repairs.
The house at Zgornji Otok 9a is still noteworthy today. This single-storey Baroque building, with a Classicist portal that dates back to 1845, was a post office between 1785 and 1871, a reminder of which is represented by the figurine above the portal. The house attracts attention with its façade frescoes depicting St Florian, the Immaculate Mary, the Holy Trinity, and the Virgin Mary of Lussari.
The village of Spodnji Otok lies slightly northward off the main road. The farmhouses are pressed against a small hill which is home to the Church of St John the Baptist and its exquisitely preserved frescoes.
The two villages developed simultaneously. At the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, farmers from German-speaking countries were settled here by the Ortenburgs. The original settlement developed on the slopes, as the plain beneath was extremely boggy owing to the lake which was once located here. Allegedly, the farmhouses were built around a mansion, the only evidence of which is preserved in written records. It was only in the eighteenth century that the villagers managed to drain the area through the construction of canals.
Report an error/send comment
