Travel the world without ever leaving Ohio
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You don't need a passport to visit Cairo, Moscow and Toronto. In fact, you don't even need to leave the state.
Driving the news: Ohio is full of communities named for famous foreign places, from Oxford to Rome.
- If your summer wanderlust is hitting early and you can't catch a flight, hop in the car and try out this epic road trip created by our Axios Visuals team.
Flashback: These locales were often named by immigrants paying tribute to their native homes, such as Dublin, given that name by Irish surveyor John Shields in 1810.
The intrigue: Ohio has a history of butchering the pronunciation of these namesake places.
- Alissa and Tyler grew up near the village of Milan, famous for being the birthplace of Thomas Edison. It's called "my-lan," not like the "me-lahn" in Italy.
- Ohio's also the home to Versailles ("ver-say-ulls"), Rio Grande ("rye-oh grand"), Medina ("meh-dye-nuh") and Cadiz ("caddis").
- We even messed up Cairo. Here, sans pyramids and kings, it's "care-oh."
Elsewhere in Ohio, you can take a European tour with jaunts to London, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Macedonia.
- Or go back in time to ancient Greece with trips to Athens and Sparta.
- If the latter is too far west for you, try East Sparta instead.
We've also got countries: Dine at the historic Golden Lamb Restaurant in Lebanon, escape to the quiet village of Poland and enjoy the scenic Lake Loramie State Park near Russia ("roo-she").
- We've even got an ocean (the village of Baltic) and a continent (the small community of Africa near Polaris Fashion Place).
Want something new? We suggest the towns of New Bremen, New Holland and New Vienna.
- Or you can tour New Paris, then scale a replica Eiffel Tower at Kings Island.
The bottom line: Ohio is a melting pot of global names and cultures.
- Give these towns a visit — just make sure you pronounce them right to the locals.
Think we missed a city on our road trip map? Check out the full list, then let us know at [email protected].