If you are a book lover like me, you read books and wish that you could travel into the author’s world. You want to visit the writer’s personal space, explore their world, and be a part of their stories. A carful reader, and a hungry traveler, reads a book and can imagine all of the possible, book inspired travels. Here is a small list of places that will entice your inner bibliophile to hit the road.
1. Shakespearean Adventures
With dozen of works written, the work of William Shakespeare is a treasure box of travel ideas. The Globe Theater is one destination that encompasses history, the writer himself, and his work. It is an obvious destination, along with Shakespeare’s birthplace, for Shakespeare lovers. London is a site for all sorts of literary adventures, but there are many other options for a Shakespearean voyage. All you have to do is reread one of his plays to come up with a travel idea. You could go to Verona, Italy to connect with "Romeo and Juliet" or travel off to Helsingr, Denmark to visualize "Hamlet." Some of his settings are more ambiguous and require further research. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is set in a ‘wood outside Athens’. If you really want to experience the play’s setting, though, Mount Parnitha in Greece has the same likeliness to the play’s mystical setting.
2. "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Harper Lee’s most famous novel is both a high school staple and a well-loved American treasure. There may be no such place as Maycomb, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t experience the setting in real life. It is well known that Lee based Maycomb off of her own hometown, Monroeville, Alabama. You can use the book as a guild in order to point out similarities between the real and fictional town.
3. Harry Potter’s London
Unfortunate for fantasy lovers, Hogwarts cannot be added to this travel list. J. K. Rowling’s cleverly written series does incorporate real life London landmarks into Harry Potter’s story. One much overlooked destination is The Elephant House café in Edinburgh. This café does not make an appearance in the series, but it is still an important location for fans of Rowling. The Elephant House is one of the places where Rowling wrote parts of her early drafts. If you are interested in the idea of feeling a writer’s aura, then this may be a place of interest. If, however, you wish to see locations from the books or movie adaptations, then there are many other options. There is the fan-favorite platform at King’s Cross and the Leadenhall market (the London market that inspired Diagon Ally and the same one used in the films). If you are looking for a lesser known attraction, though, Alnwich Castle might be your dream Potter destination. This historic castle was used as some of the exterior of the fictional Hogwarts. It is the closest you could get to J. K. Rowling’s wizarding world.
4. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden
A dream destination for any hard core transcendentalist is Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. It is the exact site in which Thoreau lived in his cabin for two years and wrote his book. Though his original cabin no longer exists, a replica has been built in the original’s place. The state reservation is considered a National Historic Landmark and is claimed to be the birthplace of the conservation movement. It is dream come true for book lovers to walk in the steps of Thoreau and take in the sights and sounds of a real life masterpiece.
5. The World of Stephen King
Many readers know that a lot of King’s stories take place in fictional locations in the state of Maine. Some don’t know that many of those places are either inspired by or are actual, real locations. A fan of King can find secret (and not so secret) places to visit in the city of Bangor. If you are interested in creepy clowns and haunted plumbing, you can visit key locations that inspired "It." The Thomas Hill Standpipe offers tours and is down the street from the vent on corners of Jackson and Union Streets (It is the same vent described in the novel in which Pennywise the clown emerges from). If demonic cats and children are more your style, then you may want to see Mount Hope Cemetery. The grave yard was used in the filming of "Pet Semetery." There are a few author centered attractions as well, a popular one being Stephan King’s house. Built in 1858, the home is surrounded by black iron gates and gargoyles. A perfect fit for the king of horror.
6. Edgar Allan Poe Travels
Anyone who knows about the life of Poe knows how turbulent a life he lived. That live lead him through difficulties, grief, and up and down America’s Atlantic coast. A no-brainer voyage for Poe fanatics is Baltimore, Maryland, the death place of the writer, but there are some less obvious places that are worth a look. In his birthplace of Boston, Massachusetts, there is a notable monument to Poe. In his lifetime, Poe was known to feel distant from Boston (he was said to be a Virginian at heart), but the monument is Boston’s own attempt to reclaim the writer. In Virginia, Poe’s adopted home state, you can visit “The Raven Room”, Poe’s old dorm room from his time as an undergrad at the University of Virginia. It is complete with authentic furniture that reflects Poe’s time and a stuffed raven near the window. The most popular Poe attraction, though, is his final resting spot in Baltimore. Originally, the writer was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. Twenty six years after his burial, Poe was reburied in a more honorable and elaborate grave.
7. Jane Austen’s England
Austen is a favorite of British literature lovers and most know that the settings and characters in her writings were inspired by her own life. In Seventon, England, Jane Austen’s birthplace, visitors can see the local church’s rectory. It was here where Austen wrote her first drafts of "Nothanger Abbey," "Sense and Sensibility," and "Pride and Predjudice." Another must see place for bookish travelers is the Jane Austen House in Chawton, England. It is where she did most of her writing and speant the last eight years of her life. The house is now a popular museum with an authentic garden and even a museum cat.
8. A Song of Ice and Fire
George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series, the books that inspired the popular television series "Game of Thrones," makes hard core readers want to explore the land of Westeros. Unfortunate for readers, Westeros is not a real place. But there are some inspired places that fans of the books and show can enjoy. In County Down, England, adventure seekers can seek out Tollymore Forest Park. The producers of the television adaptation have used this park for numerous places in the fictional world, including The Wolf Wood. Fans can see where the Stark children first met their direwolf pups. If you lust for a Dothraki journey across the Great Grass Sea, you can go to County Antrim to see the Glens. The Glens were used in filming Daenerys’s scenes with the Dothraki. If you are looking for somewhere in the United States, you could always go to Santa Fe, New Mexico and seek out Martin’s office. There is a chance that you will not be able to see Martin or his office, but it’s worth a shot for any fantasy lover.
9. Victor Hugo Revolutionary Adventure
If you have ever read a Victor Hugo novel, you know that every location used is a real place. Most of these places are obvious and can be found in Paris (like the Notre Dame Cathedral from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the sewers of "Les Miserables"), but some of the most impressive sites are from Hugo’s own life. In Paris, French literature enthusiasts can see the Maison de Victor Hugo. It is the same house Hugo lived in with his wife and children. It was in this house in which he began writing Les Miserables. In the same city, you can eat at the writer’s favorite restaurant, Le Grand Vefour. It is said that Hugo would sit at his favorite window seat that overlooked the court yard and would order his favorite dish, Veranicelli noodles, mutton, and white beans. The restaurant, which opened in 1784, still has its original décor and structure, though its menu has changed.
10. Narnia and Middle Earth
It is a literary fun-fact that C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were great friends and collaborators. There are many bibliophiles who wish that they could be a fly on the wall, watching Lewis and Tolkien talk about their ideas with the Inklings. Because time travel doesn’t exist (yet), that is not possible. Travelers can still visit and dine at the authors’ favorite meeting place, Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford, England. This is the place where the two writers would talk about ideas, theology, and their writing. You can even sit where the two friend would have sat during their visits. If you are a literary traveler who is more interested in traveling to replicas of their imaginary worlds, then there are many of those places around the world. In New Zealand, you can visit Tongariro National Park, the place where the film adaptation of "Lord of the Rings"filmed Mordor and Mount Doom. In Narni, Italy, you can see the inspiration for the land of Narnia. Lewis was inspired by a postcard from Narni and so created his fictional world from the single image. Books inspire us to imagine all the possibilities that our world has. They encourage us to imagine, travel, and explore. So read a book and find a place to go.
