“Traveling changes you. As you move through this life and this world, you change things a little, you leave traces, even if they are small. And in return, life and travel leave their mark,” said traveler, chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, who died in 2018. But sometimes choosing a travel destination is difficult. Do you need ideas for organizing your next trip and don't know where to turn? In Madrid there are still some (few) bookstores specializing in this subject, as many of them have disappeared in recent years.
For many travel enthusiasts, it is still a real pleasure to enter a bookstore to browse the shelves, chat with the bookseller or chat with other travelers. In short, we don't want you to feel the exhilaration that every globetrotter feels when deciding on their next adventure. With four attractive stations, this article would like to be a small homage to all the booksellers, adventurers and travelers who enable this profession to survive in the new era.
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fire land
The Tierra de Fuego bookstore opened in 1980 and, after passing through several locations, has settled permanently at number 3 Conde Duque Street. The focus is on mountain routes and travel guides, travel-related literature and cartography are sold. “The people who visit us come to book trips designed by Tierra del Fuego. There is also the solo traveler who does not want an organized trip and is looking for national destinations, and more recently Latin American countries such as Argentina or Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia… They are the most sought-after places,” says Miguel Ángel Miguel, owner of the Bookstore. .
The travel agency started as a mountain club, adding other activities over the years. For example, trips into nature and conscious hiking with the support of a mindfulness expert. Once a month, trips to a monastery inn, with excursions on quiet hiking trails, because, as the owner emphasizes, “you have to listen to nature.” There is also another type of music in nature, which is accompanied by a composer. They pioneered tours of Madrid with themed walking tours of the city, as well as weekend trips for more cultural tourism.
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The Tierra del Fuego bookstore in Madrid. ISABEL FERNANDEZ
“As far as travel literature is concerned, Caminos de Agua is a very good book, written by a Canarian boy who undertakes a journey through Latin America by canoe and on foot,” recommends the expert. “As a route guide, created by our guides and edited by us, we have a hiking guide through the Arribes del Duero that sells very well,” he adds. Tierra de Fuego started as a bookstore and continues to be run “romantically,” as the owner explains, but confirms that they currently make a living from the agency. In addition, Miguel Ángel has just received an award from the Madrid Mountaineering Association for his life dedicated to the development and promotion of hiking, mountaineering and active tourism.
Uneven bookstore
This bookstore dedicated to travel and the mountains is located in the central Barrio de Las Letras (Plaza de Matute, 6). The shop, which had been a book and stationery store since 1888, only became today's Desnivel bookstore in 1998. The target groups include people who know the brand, mountaineers and travel enthusiasts, but due to the location in a transit enclave, the eye-catching window design also attracts many passers-by. “We are dedicated to travel and the mountains, but we also have maps and material, climbing shoes, T-shirts, hats…” says Maixa Rote, bookseller and journalist.
Desnivel also has a small literary publishing house with both content and two periodical magazines, Desnivel and Grandes Espacios. Maixa recommends Nordic writer Erica Fatland and her book Himalaya. “Another book I also recommend is Where the Sun Rises. Travel novel in which the 17-year-old author leaves France with his bicycle and an empty passport. He tells what he discovers on this vital journey, which lasts just over a year and was awarded the Desnivel Literary Prize in 2021,” adds the bookseller. This is a meeting point for all mountain fans, a place to build community and exchange experiences.
Robinson Nautical Bookstore
In the central Chueca district, on the small street Santo Tomé number 6, is this bookstore with more than 40 years of history. It specializes in sea travel, history, stories of great sailors and fiction novels. Juan Melgar, director of the establishment, assures that the public that visits his store is very diverse: “We have many repeat customers. When preparing for a trip, they usually take a sea guide and something to read with them. There are a lot of people who are just starting to discover the sea and they tend to be thirsty for knowledge, so they come to document and learn.”
Interior of the Náutica Robinson bookstore in the Chueca district of Madrid. RUBY FERNANDEZ
When it comes to reading something that motivates and inspires, he is clear. “I would recommend a book by a solo sailor. How a single person travels on a sailboat is something very demanding. They talk about their adventures, the countries they visit… They are entertaining and very interesting, atmospheric and stimulating books. “You feel the desire to travel and explore the world,” he says. When it comes to novelists who have dealt with the theme of navigation, there is no doubt in the Robinson bookstore who the authors par excellence are: “Joseph Conrad was a merchant seaman and almost all of his novels are about sea voyages. Another great author is Melville with his Moby Dick and of course Robert Louis Stevenson with his very famous Treasure Island.”
The main destination in Spain for practicing this type of tourism are the Balearic Islands. You have the option of renting a boat there or traveling from the peninsula with your own boat. Other places include Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, the South Pole or, now in winter, the Caribbean. For all of these destinations, this Madrid bookstore offers maps and navigation charts. So if you want to take a trip to the sea, Robinson is without a doubt the place for you. If that is not the case and we want a good book, Juan Melgar will rightly recommend an interesting historical, transformative journey, a shipwreck or one of those great adventures that have changed humanity.
Bags Store Madrid
Just a few meters from Robinson, at 30 Barquillo Street, this beautiful bookstore is located in the old premises of the Santa Rita haberdashery. The thirteenth branch of the famous German publishing house has opened in the Justicia district of Madrid. Taschen is not exclusively dedicated to travel guides and books, but its catalog focuses on art, photography, design and cinema. However, Alejandra Torres, coordinator of the Madrid store, explains: “As a practical book, similar to a travel guide, there is a collaboration with the New York Times called 36 Hours that takes us to the United States, Canada or Europe.” Another very interesting way to find inspiration is “100 trips around the world”. “They are small and practical books for organizing a trip. In this sense, remote experiences are very popular, collaborations between a photographer and a journalist that propose trips to remote places such as Antarctica, North Korea, Botswana or Papua New Guinea, although this would be more like organizing an adventure,” he assures.
Interior of Bags Store Madrid.Belén Imaz
Other volumes that might also fit include photographic and historical travel. The “Portraits of a City” series, which deals with capitals such as Rome, Berlin, Vienna, New York and San Francisco, is undoubtedly worth highlighting here. It is a tour of the modern history of these cities through photographs. Another option is to travel through history, culture or tradition with the 1900s series, visiting several countries. “We have a very diverse audience who are very interested in aesthetics, architecture and history,” says Alejandra Torres. And when it comes to travel, he believes that “the 36-hour trips sell very well because they make it easier to organize a weekend trip around Europe.”
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