Fairytale wilderness

By John Mangan
Updated April 18 2014 - 12:23am, first published April 17 2014 - 11:59pm
Traditional and charm: Lake Bled in Slovenia is one of Europe's most picturesque locations.
Traditional and charm: Lake Bled in Slovenia is one of Europe's most picturesque locations.

Hiking through the alpine Slovenian wilderness in mid-summer it's encouraging to see, regularly posted on suitably rustic signs, directions to the nearest pizza parlour. It is almost lunchtime, time for a snack and a cup of coffee, or perhaps a refreshing glass of Lasko, the beer that's been brewed by locals since 1825. We've just been walking the Vintgar Gorge, an impossibly pretty ravine 4 kilometres north-west of Lake Bled, itself an even more ridiculously picturesque sight.