Top Ten Tuesday – Bookish Places I’ve Visited

I always love a travel topic, and this week at That Artsy Reader Girl is all about cool bookish places.

1. Old Library, Trinity College Dublin

One of the highlights of my Ireland trip, and probably my favourite library in the world (so far). This is also where you can see the Book of Kells, a 9th-century gospel manuscript, which is an experience in itself.

2. Rouen, France

Gustave Flaubert, the author of Madame Bovary, was born in Rouen, where he also mentored my favourite French writer of short stories, Guy de Maupassant. When I went to Normandy, it was a must to visit a city that felt so familiar from their books.

3. Alexandria, Egypt

This Mediterranean port city was once home to the Library of Alexandria, one of the largest libraries of the ancient world. Sadly, nothing survived of the original structure and even its exact location is lost. My most vivid memory of Alexandria are the massive crowds on the streets, celebrating the end of Ramadan. At one point we tried to walk to the citadel built on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but we had to turn back when the intense attention from the locals made us feel like The Beatles.

4. Notre-Dame de Paris

I could just mention the city of Paris as a whole, but its famous cathedral was basically another character in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. I’m glad I visited it before it was severely damaged by the fire.

5. State Library Victoria

The grandest library in my home city of Melbourne, and Australia’s oldest public library. I feel like another visit is due!

6. Westminster Abbey, London

My only trip to London was a day-and-a-half whirlwind, but I did manage to squeeze in the magnificent Westminster Abbey. Poets’ Corner is of a particular bookish interest, since it contains the graves and memorials of famous writers like William Shakespeare, the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, C. S. Lewis and Thomas Hardy.

7. Akasaka Station, Tokyo

We didn’t make it inside the nearby Harry Potter Cafe, but it was cool to visit the Harry Potter themed Akasaka Station.

8. Alexander Pushkin Memorial Apartment, St Petersburg

I haven’t been to many writers’ homes or museums, but during our high school trip to St Petersburg we went to see the apartment of Alexander Pushkin. The Russian poet and novelist lived there between 1836 and 1837, and died in the building after being mortally wounded in a duel.

9. The Nile 

The great river was the setting for Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, one of her best-known murder mysteries. I travelled down the Nile on a humble felucca rather than a posh paddle steamer, but we would have seen the same amazing sites as Hercule Poirot. And we didn’t have a murder onboard!

10. Livraria Bertrand, Lisbon

As much as I love books, bookshops rarely make it on my travel itineraries. I made an exception for this store in the Chiado district of Lisbon, recognised as the oldest operating bookstore in the world (open since 1732). Inside, it has beautiful archways and a large selection of books, mostly in Portuguese.