A beer at the Vesuvio Café in San Francisco a la Kerouac? A spot of deduction at 221b Baker Street with Holmes? Travel website TripAdvisor has come up with a list of the world's top 10 literary spots, according to its editors. So, in order: London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Edinburgh, Dublin, New York, Concord in Massachusetts, Paris, San Francisco, Rome and St Petersburg.
As travel advice, it's somewhat uninspiring - apart from Concord, Massachusetts, which I hadn't realised was the home of Louisa M Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Thoreau; good going for a town with a population just over 15,000. But I doubt there would be that many people visiting London, Rome or Paris just for their literary associations. How about some literary destinations that are (slightly) off the beaten track: Atlanta for Margaret Mitchell and Gone With The Wind, or Mississippi for Mark Twain? Any other suggestions?
For those keen to immerse themselves totally in the world of literature while on holiday, there's a company in the States (www.literarytraveler.com) which offers literary tours. The King Arthur England Tour travels around Cornwall, while reading stories from Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. The Trainspotting tour (adults only) is a walking tour of Edinburgh. "Walking the streets of Leith, we read passages on location, all introduced and put into context. We end up in Sick Boys pub Port Sunshine. If its a really bad day Sick Boy himself will be behind the bar, serving with a snarl." Excellent.
