Where have you been that you've read about in novel?

[chocolateequinox]

Have you been somewhere on holiday because you read about it in a novel and did it meet up to your expectations?

I wanted to go to some of places in the Austrian Tyrol because of the chalet school books but haven't got there yet.

Been to Kefalonia (sp?) Where Captain Corellis mandolin was filmed. Didn't know that til after we'd booked it.
Live in an area that's used for filming a lot. Very often see places I know in various tv series.

Narnia. It's overrated. The food is terrible.

I went to Spinalonga after reading the island. It was an amazing trip, very eerie and emotional. Such a beautiful part of the world too.

@donquixotedelamancha Excellent Turkish delight, though.....

I went to St Petersburg because of Dostoevsky.

Oops sorry, you said novel not film or tv. Ignore me

Whitby having read Dracula.

Excellent Turkish delight, though....

:-) Damn, we didn't try that. One meal turned out to be roast beaver- eww. The waiters were all bizarrely shirtless, with fur trousers.

On the positive side, it's very safe. Lots of police around (though they are all very short) and they have some lovely life like statues.

I went to Carcassone after reading Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Backpacked through Morocco after I read The Sheltering Sky (it wasn’t really an advert for Morocco though)

Transylvania after I read Dracula (I live near Whitby so have been there many times)

Spinalonga after reading The Island. Bodmin and the surrounding moors after reading the Jamaica Inn. Corfe Castle in Dorset (was a huge famous five fan as a child).
Thailand after reading The Beach.
Bamburgh Castle after reading and watching The Last Kingdom series. Cornish tin mining coastline after reading and watching the Poldark series. Took my kids to the Yorkshire moors as we were reading The Secret Garden. My favourite though would be the worms head, Rhossili in the Gower region of Wales after reading Susan Howatch’s The Wheel of Fortune. I’m sure there are a few more but can’t think of any right now.

Skagway in Alaska and then a trip into The Yukon, which I read about in The Call Of The Wild aged 7 and always wanted to go to but never thought I would. Yes it lived up to expectations, it was absolutely stunning.

Other way round but I read a book set in the town I live in in Italy and in the book there was a murder in my local supermarket's car park. Iirc, the murderer is hiding in some bushes - bushes which don't actually exist in real life!

I spent 2 winters working in Bath, and made a point of reading Persuasion each time I was there.

Also I went to visit the Mary Rose after reading the CJ Sansom Shardlake book (can't remember which one). It did not disappoint.

This is a nice thread

Like a couple of PPs, I do it the other way round - go somewhere and then buy books set there, novels where possible but guide books are fine. I'd love to find a novel or even a children's fiction book set in Llandudno, which is our favourite place to go. Those goats would make a good story come to think of it.

I wanted to visit Kefalonia ever since I first read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - didn’t get there till 4 years ago though. I reread the book whilst there. Was fantastic and very interesting to see the places mentioned - it’s such a strange feeling to be on a beautiful beach but know it was where the Germans were camped during WW2 for example, but it just looks like a lovely tourist beach now.

I do tend to do it the other way round a lot and try to read books set in the place I’m visiting either whilst away or just before going, but that was maybe the only one I wanted to go to because of the book.

It was quite hard to find stuff set in Cuba when we toured round there - I found a few but expected more!

On a less literary note I always wanted to go to Boston because of Ally McBeal! Did end up living there for a while.

Lombard Street in San Francisco (Armistead Maupin - Tales of the City)
Angel's Flight in LA (The Harry Bosch series)

I've been to Achensee which is the basis for the Chalet School books. It wa beautiful but found 1990s Austria difficult to compare to 1920s/30s Austria!

Desperate one day to get to Prince Edward Island.

Not a book but Jane the Virgin has made me want to visit Miami!

I went here on a day trip as part of a cheap teletext holiday after graduating university. It was just advertised as an abandoned town and was one of the “things to do” in the area, but on the bus on the way there I started reading about it and realised it was the story of Louis de Bernieres’ Birds Without Wings which I’d read recently and absolutely loved. The book was based on the town but has a different name in the book. We had an amazing day exploring, virtually on our own, and finding all the places from the book.

When we first got together, DH took me to visit the Green Knowe house in Cambridgeshire Because he found out i’m a sucker for childrens lit. It is still lived in by the author’s daughter in law and she does personal tours if you book.

It was AMAZING, just as i imagined, and i totally fangirled my way around. If i hadn’t already known he was a keeper, that would definitely have sealed it

Skane in Sweden after reading the Wallander books. Had pizza in the pizza place, and generally enjoyed myself for a day. On the same trip we saw the aoresund bridge which then obviously featured in The Bridge.

Las Vegas and Amsterdam after reading Donna Tart’s evocative descriptions in The Goldfinch. Loved Amsterdam, not so much Las Vegas.

On a less literary note I always wanted to go to Boston because of Ally McBeal! Did end up living there for a while.

Me too!! Loved that show, bought all the DVDs. It's still on my to do list