Struga – world capital of poetry

Struga is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of the Republic of Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Struga was part of the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. The Ohrid Lake is the largest lake in Macedonia, one of the largest on the Balkan Peninsula and one of the oldest on earth. The water level is 695 m above sea level and has a maximum depth of 287 meters. On Macedonian banks are the major cities Ohrid and Struga, in Albania it is Pogradec. Overall, more than 200,000 people living around the lake.

The Poetry Evenings, which have been held since 1962, are one of the oldest and largest poetry festivals and have won awards for Pablo Neruda, Allen Ginsberg and Mahmud Darwisch.

Since 1962, poets, authors and poetry lovers have met every year at the Poetry Evenings in the city on the Drin. The six-day poetry festival is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the world. During the Cold War, the festival played an important cultural role as it was able to unite artists from West and East in a "neutral" location - Yugoslavia, as a "non-aligned" state, was not in any camp belonging.

Struga, Ohrid and the surrounding towns are connected by a good bus route network. In addition, bus connections lead to many regional cities (especially Skopje and Bitola), to foreign holiday resorts (Durrës, Vlora, Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Burgas), to Western Europe (Zurich, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Berlin and Copenhagen) and to other major European cities (Belgrade, Sofia, Sarajevo, Athens and Tirana).

Camping Rino in Kalishta at Lake Ohrid