BookTrail a city tour

Submitted: 13th March 2018

Where do you go to indulge your literary side?

Where are the best places to explore, literary style?

There are five cities in particular that have some very special places and literary links to visit.

Germany – Mainz

Mainz is the place to start really as this was the home of Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the printing of moveable type. He’s the man who made books possible so to visit his home and museum would be like paying homage. You can even see the very first book made with this kind of type – a Guttenberg bible.

Read about Guttenberg’s Apprentice here

Books set in Germany

France – Paris

You can’t visit Paris without paying respects to the most famous French writers of all time. You should take time to wander around the cemeteries of Père Lachaise, Montmartre, and Montparnasse as it’s here you’ll find the resting places of Oscar Wilde, Baudelaire, Zola, Stendhal to name but a few.

There’s also another place of pilgrimage which was the heart and soul of more recent writers – the bookshop Shakespeare and Company who have welcomed many famous writers such as Hemingway through their doors. Writers use this as a source of inspiration now and it’s a book haven for sure! (Bring a suitcase for purchases if you’re anything like me)

Oh and be sure to visit Saint Sulpice as after a certain Da Vinci Code book came out, this sign appeared inside:

The power of a book eh?

Books set in Paris

Italy – Rome

Whether you go there to see the backdrop of Karen Swan’s The Rome Affair or to visit the home of Goethe, you should definately not miss the city’s libraries. They are, without a doubt, some of the most stunning in the world!

Your jaw will drop when you go inside the http://www.casanatense.it/it/ where get a guided tour like I did. But don’t try to get locked in after hours. They don’t like that ; )

And when you’re sitting on the famous Spanish steppes, take time to visit the Keats Shelley house where Keats died in 1824. It’s a fascinating musuem..

Visit: keats-shelley-house.org/

Books set in Rome

Dublin

Dublin, is the city of great writers like Yeats, and Joyce but it’s more than just a city of writers past. Roddy Doyle uses the city as a backdrop in https://www.thebooktrail.com/book-trails/smile/

Sam Blake created her kick boxing Garda officer who lives there Little Bones and the most chilling trail of all is that the true life inspired tale of John Delahunt

Oh the libraries you’ll find here – Marsh’s Library, Chester Beatty Library and what about the Writer’s Museum itself?

Books set in Dublin

Stockholm

The recent rise of Scandi noir has put Stockholm very high up on the list of places to visit for book lovers

If you’re brave enough, you could visit the settings of Steig Larsson, author of the Millennium trilogy.

At the City Museum there’s an exhibition devoted to the books and the Stockholm locations mentioned.

Take care in the National Library of Sweden as they have a so called ‘Devil’s Bible’ on display. It’s actually the biggest medieval manuscript in the world apparently and it’s created more than a few legends about its content and appearance..