That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet. – Jhumpa Lahiri
To travel is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Do you love to explore new places as I do? I love to lose myself in a foreign city and dive into the culture and history of another country, while others like to go to the beach and explore the beauty of the ocean.
You may pick up a travel guide or search online what you can do in the city you are visiting next. I tend to start writing down a list of everything I want to see and mark it on a map and plan routes so that I will not miss anything. Nevertheless, I also like to get inspired by books I read and I start imagine myself being at the same spot where the characters from the books stood and to embrace the feeling the author wanted to transport a reader to in their story.
Over the years, I have come across a couple of books which have shown me around different cultures and cities through Europe and now, I want to share some of them with you which I highly recommend if you plan to visit Europe.
Let us pick up our backpacks, grab our train tickets, and start explore beautiful Europe!
We will start our journey in Vienna, where I was born and partly raised. Shame on me, but I have not really read a book about Vienna or Austria since I was in school. The most internationally well-known story about Austria is The Sound of Music, which tells the story about the Von Trapp family and what happened to them during the Second World War. Somehow, there’s many Austrians that don’t know this movie even exists! Make sure to see Vienna and Salzburg and visit the places where Empress Sissi and Mozart lived.
The journey takes us next to beautiful Greece where we follow the Greek gods around their temples of which we have heard from Circe by Madeline Miller—because Circe is a Titan, she gives a pretty good overview of Greek mythology. Exploring can make you hungry and after a swim in the crystal clear sea, we eat some Gyros and plan our trip to the next country…
In Italy we follow Lina from Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch through Toscana and visit Crema where the movie adaptation of Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman was made. Italy is perfect for love stories and epic adventures. However, there is also a detective story hidden in Venice. Donna Leon is famous for her Brunetti crime series, and a little fun fact about Leon is that she is an American writer who lives in Venice and her books are published all around the world, but not in Italy because she does not want to be recognised while grocery shopping. So as long as we can bear the hot weather, let’s continue with our trip.
Following Monty from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, we end up in Barcelona, Spain. We for sure will have a fun time cursing with him from Italy to Spain and take a go up a tower of Sagrada Familia to see the city from above. How are you feeling? Do you have enough of the heat? Then let’s continue to our next stop.
France, but more precisely, Paris. I have so many books taking place in Paris and I am not sure I can count them all. Who wants to explore old Paris through Eponine eyes from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo? Or follow Anna from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins to every corner of the city? I for sure would not mind to meet some revenants from Die For Me by Amy Plum or take a trip to the fictional village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes and eat some chocolate with Vianne from Chocolate by Joanne Harris.
If you have successfully convinced me to continue our trip, we will make a quick stop in Idris from The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare. Well, we would if we are able to find it. It is rumoured to be found between Germany, France and Switzerland. I guess we will find out if we are descended from Shadowhunter or if we are mundanes…
I could recommend to you a lot of books taking place in Germany, but unfortunately the majority of them haven’t been translated into English so let’s just stick with the classics, The Brother’s Grimm. Their stories will bring us all over the country, but the moment you see a big bad wolf or a woman talking gibberish, we better keep going to our next stop.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green partially takes place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The book alone is sad enough that we can sit by the Amstel and cry for a bit and then be distracted by all the beautiful flowers that are all over the town.
From Amsterdam it is not that far to take a plane to Ireland. We explore the country like the siblings Addie and Ian from Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch. If we are lucky we even can go to the Electric Picnic Music Festival and dance as long our feet will allow it.
Great Britain is the country of magicians, or so I have heard. I am sure we will be able to find a trace of Harry’s magic in those streets as told by J.K. Rowling. Maybe we will be able to make a trip with Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab to another London. As Travars!
Have you had enough of magic? Then maybe a little bit of crime is what you need now. Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist from The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson are waiting for us in Sweden. Be warned, what they have to tell us is nothing that you will forget soon and it will haunt you maybe. So only take this trip when you really are up for it.
Either way, we will continue our trip to Russia and meet with Pierre from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I do not know about you, but this is one of my favourite classic stories and its complexity causes you to be immersed in the story a few times and to watch all the different movie adaptions. Moscow or St. Petersburg, I hope we do not keep lost in time and do not forget to continue our journey, because the next one is a special stop for me.
Next up is my second homeland, Poland. There I will tell you the story of Pan Tadeuz by Adam Mickiewicz, which tells the complicated history between Poland and Lithuania. Of course, we have to make a stop in Cracow, my hometown, and take a look at the Church of Our Lady St. Mary were the story of The Trumpeter of Krakow takes place. To say goodbye to Poland is always hard for me, but we are not yet down with our journey.
Want to see Vlad the Impaler’s castle? Well, off to Romania we go. Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco will give us a different perspective of it. Okay, I just saw a very big bat flying above us, can we go now? Please?
Maybe the next stop will be not a scary one. And I Darken by Kiersten White takes place in the Ottoman Empire, now known as Turkey, and with Lada on our side nothing bad can happen to us.
Every good thing has to come to an end, even an epic trip through Europe. Our last stop before we will head back home is beautiful Prague, Czech Republic. Karou from Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor is waiting for us and after sight-seeing, we will chill outside with food and drinks and enjoy the cool evening summer breeze while we talk about all the great memories we have gathered.
We hope you enjoyed The Nerd Daily book journey through Europe as much as we did and we hope you will travel with us again!
