Ohrid, North Macedonia: The City of Light

What’s in a name?

These days, Paris bags first dibs on the handle ‘The City of Light’.

Accepted wisdom suggests this emerged from the French capital’s prominent role in the age of enlightenment. However, Paree’s lofty claim to La Ville Lumière title actually comes from something much more mundane.

It is based on the city’s innovative attempts to combat crime.

In the mid-17th century, following a period of unrest, King Louis XIV pledged to restore law and order. As part of The Sun King’s purge, Paris’ chief of police placed lanterns on the streets and urged residents to light their windows with candles and oil lamps. Lighting deterred criminals from lurking in dark alleys.

Then, a few centuries later, in 1829, Paris lauded itself as one of Europe’s first cities to roll out gas street lighting.

Yet, Paris doesn’t have a monopoly on claims to this City of Light business.

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Slovak Paradise (Slovenský raj) With A Dog

Slovak Paradise National Park (Národný park Slovenský raj) is one of Slovakia’s nine national parks.

Situated in the east of the country, the Park covers an area of 197.63 sq km (76.3 sq miles). Despite its small size, Slovenský raj contains eleven national nature reserves and eight nature reserves.

The park is also a great doggy destination. It has around 300 km (186 miles) of clearly marked hiking trails and 90% of the park is forested, so the walks are shady. The steep-sided gorges also temper high summer temperatures.  

Around 30% of households in Slovakia own dogs. We saw no stray dogs or fierce shepherd dogs, and found Slovakia to be a very dog friendly country. Nevertheless, we struggled to find information on visiting Slovenský raj with dogs. We visited in our own truck camper and stayed on the campsite at Podlesok. Hotel, chalets, pensions and other accommodation options are available. The national park lists pet friendly accommodation optios, or you could check dog friendliness with individual providers.

Mark & Kai taking a rest in the shade – the park is 90% forested
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Going to Macedonia

We had a slight problem with our arrangement to meet our new German friend, Loreen, in Pogrodec, at the south-western tip of Lake Ohrid.

Mark had tested positive for COVID-19.

The lake shore near Camping Fabio in Pogrodec
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