13 Stops for a Literary Nerd Loose In Europe
If you love literature and have the chance to study abroad or travel to Europe, here's some destinations to make sure to slip into your itinerary!
13. Eagle and Child Pub: Oxford, England
While Oxford has its scholarly draw regardless, between stepping into gardens and chapels or gawking at gorgeous architecture you have to stop by this pub! Located on St. Giles Street right by the campus, this pub was a favorite of the "Inklings," a group of writers including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (who circulated proofs of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe here in 1950!). Grab some fish and chips and soak in the literary history!
12. Sweney's Pharmacy & 7 Eccles Street: Dublin, Ireland
If you have enough time in Dublin, you can stop by virtually all the locations featured in James Joyce's Ulysses! Our favorite was Sweney's Pharmacy, which is now more of a bookstore, and an eccentric place to feel connected to that modernist text you sloughed through as an English major. Your trip would also not be complete without knocking on 7 Eccles Street: the original structure was demolished, but the door is now safely in the James Joyce Center!
The center also offers walking tours daily. Only €4 for students; on North Great George Street, easily accessible by city bus.
11. Sobrino de Botin: Madrid, Spain
While we didn't end up eating dinner here, slipping inside the foyer of the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world was worth the stop! More importantly, I snapped a picture because the restaurant appears in the closing pages of The Sun Also Rises, and was one of Ernest Hemingway's favorites.
10. Anne Frank House: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
A haunting tribute to Anne Frank and her family's lives. Stripped of furniture, the house now operates as a sparse, empty museum--walking through silently was the most appropriate remembrance of loss and utter erasure imaginable. I think it is important to remember that Anne Frank was an "author"-- writing with maturity in her diary which she knew and hoped would be read. She recorded her life in hiding so it could not be rewritten or forgotten.
9. Jane Austen Center: Bath, England
Bath is a popular stop over on your way to Stonehenge, but this center could be worth staying the extra day in the city of ancient Roman baths! So glad I could bombard my students with this picture, and all my new knowledge of Jane Austen when we started Pride and Prejudice. £8 for students; on Gay Street, a short walk from the baths.
8. Trinity College Library: Dublin, Ireland
Absolutely. Breathtaking. Take the hour during your trip to Dublin to check out this incredible library! For €9, you get to see the Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript of the gospels from the 800s!) and visit the famous "Long Room," full of spiral staircases and looming shelves holding 200,000 texts.
At the time, we got to see a special collection of children's books!
7. Rome and Athens
As a major Classics nerd, I can't forget the epics in my pursuit of literary landmarks. While this statue was a must-see more from my years of Latin (it was featured on the cover of my first Latin textbook!) paying the 15 euro to get into the Capitoline Museum was worth every penny to see it in person. Wandering the Roman Forum, Colloseum or Acropolis certainly had me feeling like I was in the presence of Homer or Virgil, and there was plenty of mythological and epic art in take in in both cities!
6. The Globe Theater: London, England
The current theater is located just a few hundred yards from the original site, still right by the Thames. (The original burned down after a cannon incident in a staging of Henry VIII, and its replacement was torn down in Puritanical theater shutdowns). The current Globe is as close a replica as possible to the circular, thatched-roof, open-air theater Shakespeare's plays were performed in in the 1600s--and definitely worthy the hour or two during your trip to London!
We enjoyed taking a tour and soaking in how it must have been to experience a rowdy play in Shakespeare's day, but if you can swing it you could also try to see a play there! £12.50 for entrance as students; tours leave every 30 minutes.
5. Oscar Wilde's Home & Statue
I'm a huge Oscar Wilde fan so I had to track this statue down! It is a little difficult to find, but if you start at Sweney's Pharmacy and head right along the curved road, you'll find his home on the left. After a quick picture there (or stop in if you have the time) the statue is across the street in a park called Merrion Square. The garden is also worth a walk through! Read Dorian Gray. Fall in love with Oscar Wilde. Find this statue which captures his personality!
4. The Elephant House: Edinburgh, Scotland
If you love Harry Potter, stop by this cafe and coffee shop in Edinburgh! Most walking tours pass by it, or you can reach it quickly by walking from most major attractions. Grab a cup of tea and sit where J.K. Rowling wrote the Sorcerer's Stone! (Make sure you also check out the restroom--and add your own favorite Harry Potter quote).
You can also see the boarding school that inspired Hogwarts (pictured above), a "Riddle" grave in a nearby cemetery or a whole host of bookstores in the area. You can also visit Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's house! Edinburgh is literary heaven.
3. 221B Baker Street: London, England
This stop is as much a TV stop as a literary one, so knocking on Sherlock's 221B Baker Street was fun for my whole travel group! (I appreciate their patience through the rest of these stops😜) You can reach it quickly on foot from the Baker Street stop on the tube. If you go during business hours, the shop next door has a whole host of gifts for fans back home.
2. Platform 9 3/4: London, England
This is such a fun stop! The Kings Cross Station of the tube has put up a fun tourist attraction between platforms 9 and 10, and it is well worth the often long wait in line. (Going early in the morning helps!) Take a picture by Platform 9 3/4, where you can choose your house scarf and pretend to push your trolley through the magical barrier. You can buy your official photo, or they don't mind if you take your own for free!
1. Stratford Upon Avon
If you're traveling in England, you have to visit the birthplace and grave of the Bard. (Most scholars agree that "William Shakespeare" was the real playwright, but if you're a conspiracy theorist the town is still a blast!)
The town is small so you can do it all by foot: walking along the beautiful Avon River (with boats named after Shakespearean characters!) to the Church of the Holy Trinity where he is buried or soaking in the "half-timbered" store fronts on the way to his birthplace.
While there aren't many hostel options available, we split a hotel room and stayed close the attractions affordably, so we had extra to splurge on going to see a play!
We saw The Merchant of Venice in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre right by the Avon, and it was worth all 30 pounds!
If you have trouble finding these stops, I always recommend downloading the City Maps app by Ulmon, or similar offline apps. You can download whole city maps to view without data or wifi, which can be really helpful when searching for smaller attractions like many of these which may be off the beaten path.
Comment below if you know of other must-see destinations for your favorite English major!