Lake Bled is enchanting in its own right. But for one night every year it turns into a mesmerizing light show as thousands of tiny candles are released into the water.

The candles are in fact egg shells filled with wax and a wick. This year 10,000 of them were let float on the lake on 29 July for the 51st year running.

The event is part of the annual Bled Summer Festival, which features live music, and crafts, food and drink stalls.

The secret of the candles is that they are all made by one man but in a joint effort because the shells come from the eggs that have been used to make the town's celebrated cream cake.

Andrej Vidic, a local from the village of Grad na Bledu, is making the candles every year for months. The shells have to be perfect, which means that the eggs have to be cracked in a special way, says Romana Purkart of the local tourism board.

Once Vidic fills the shells with wax and wicks, he puts them into crates, which volunteers distribute around the lake. They light the candles when they are on the water, roughly 200 to 300 metres away from the shore.

"They have to watch out for the lake currents so that the water does not take the candles too close to Bled Island or to the other side of the lake, but they stay in front of the promenade, where it's possible to see them best from the shore," Purkart says.

The day after the egg shells are removed from the lake by divers.