Bookshops We Would Fly To Visit
Nowadays, visiting and strolling in bookshops became rare, especially in this time, the digital age. Even in this era, everyone should see the beauty of turning the pages of a great book, even better, the beauty of bookshops. Bookstores always could transport bookworms to faraway lands and exposed them to new experiences. Bookshops allow readers to scan its’ shelves in pursuit of their next adventure. Interestingly, there are shops that takes these experiences to the next level- through its architecture, decoration, and even its history. Cozy up and check this list of bookshops that are worth visiting and worth crossing oceans for.
Why Should You Visit these Bookshops?
In this list, you will find the most beautiful and stunning bookshops in Europe, each of them is unique in their ways. You will find yourself enjoying hunting and seeking new knowledge in these shops. Their beauties will make your bibliophile self, lost in the moment, and breathless.
1. Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice
The Libreria Acqua Alta is considered as one of the most unique bookshops in the world. Its name translates “Book Store of High Water.” When the waterways rise to fill the shop, it would destroy the book collections. This bookstore has adjusted itself to the constant flooding by displaying and placing its books in bathtubs and full-sized gondolas. Also, they put new and used books in their antique shelves and old furniture. Whilst browsing through their sea of books, don’t forget to greet the welcoming resident cats.
2. Shakespeare & Co., Paris
Around the corner from Paris’s Latin Quarter and Boulevard Saint-Germaine, stands, Shakespeare & Company, one of the most famous bookshops in Europe. This bookshop is more of a piece of art rather than a store. Walking around in the store’s early seventeenth-century building on a block stretch of Rue de la Bûcherie, with its old-fashioned bookstalls, it rustic-looking signage, makes you feel like you’re in the older Paris. You’ll be back to the present moment when you notice the long line waiting to get into the bookstore. Because this is considered a tourist spot, especially during summer months.
3. John Sandoe Books, London
Running into this beautiful bookshop in Chelsa, just off the King’s Road, you might see yourself entering in a Dickens novel. This bookshop occupies the three floors of an eighteenth-century building. Because of its creaky floors, and narrow staircases, the term “little English bookshop” would be fitting for it. It is founded in 1957 with three planks laid on bricks which says “All the books one could ever hope to find in one place”. Now, there are books everywhere inside, no extra spaces, from the stairs full of books and books piled on the table, except for a little space of pathways, some few seats, and space for the computer. This bookshop has over 25, 000 books that are organized in a special system so customers are always encourage to ask for help.
4. Barter Books, Northumberland, UK
Barter Books is one of the largest second-hand bookstores in Europe. This bookshop opened in 1991 in a Victorian-era train station. Elements and structure of that station are still intact, including its vaulted ceilings, but its interior has been converted into a large, homey store. The place is huge you could spend some good few hours inside. The shop has many extra features for its customers. It has open fires during mid-winter and they also served coffee, tea, cookies, and other great foods in their Station Buffet. And lastly, the bookshop has three amazing 40-foot murals. One of them is the the miniature model train tracks above its ceiling painted by Peter Dodd. It has 33 life-size drawings in it.
Purchasing books in various genres is like searching for new kinds of adventure. There’s something about seeing bookshelves filled with eccentric books, that lures us every time. Maybe it’s the bookworm inside us responding to that call. Bookshops and libraries became a source of new emotions, experiences, and memories. It’s like we lived a million lives.
