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A few words about myself
and a brief history of pletna

My name is A.Marjan Zupan born 14.6.1953 in Bled. Since I was a child I was involved into Pletna Boats, because being a pletna boat captain I also build pletnas. I was born into one of the oldest families at the village Mlino which lies on the southern shore of the Bled lake. We are one of the twenty-two families that in the time of the empress Maria Theresa have gotten so called servatute rights to operate a boat on the lake as a subvention for the farm land.

First written notes in the church books about the pletna boats and the Zupan family goes way back to the feudal era of the 12. century. Significant changes in building a pletna boat came in the year 1902 when it got the shape it has today. The most credit for that goes to my grandfather Anton Zupan which was involved at the construction of the mentioned Pletna boat. As the carrier of the tradition in the boatbuilding I have achieved that pletna of the today's dimensions (length 730cm, width 230cm) is completely safe and interesting for tourists.

I'm glad that other pletna boat captains wish to follow my example. It will keep the quality of the boats. The name pletna was adopted by our ancestors after a German word pletten. Pletnas of different sizes and shapes can still be found on many Austrian lakes. At my work I'm doing my best to transfer my knowledge and experiences to younger generations. I guarantee you that taking a ride in our pletna boats will be very interesting and fun. If you intent to visit the island or just take a ride on the lake contact us.