If you have found a vacation rental in South Aegean, you're likely to spend some time on the beautiful and famous island of Santorini. Many a visitor has fallen desperately in love with the island and have found it difficult to leave at the end of their time on the island. In 2002, two young American students lived out all of our fantasies and decided to stay. They opened up a bookstore, Atlantis Books, which has become a serious tourist and cultural hotspot and iconic attraction that many make a point of flocking to when visiting Santorini.
Craig Walzer and Oliver Wise were two American students who were studying abroad in Oxford for a year. They had already spent time in Paris and got caught up in the Shakespeare and Company scene, Walzer falling utterly in love with the store and everything about it. They later found themselves in Athens for spring break, but after some time in the capital, they decided that they needed to take a break from urban life and headed to Santorini. Wowed by the beauty and peace of the island, they were dismayed, however, to find themselves out of reading materials a week into their stay. After a wine-fuelled dinner one night, they came up with the idea of opening a bookshop and, upon sobering up the next day, were still on board. It took some time to realise but, in 2004, everything came together and Atlantis Books opened its doors.
A truly beautiful place, it is located in Oia, Santorini’s northernmost village, in one of those iconic whitewashed buildings with a decorative mural of books haphazardly arranged on shelves on the exterior wall. Walk downstairs and you'll enter into two rooms stuffed floor to ceiling with books in English, as well as some in Greek, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese. Carefully curated, with books pleasingly displayed on tables and shelves, they boast a wide range of tomes to choose from and some first editions for connoisseurs. A stairs also takes one upstairs, to the terrace where events take place and there are incredible views over the Aegean.
The future of the store is currently uncertain, as the landlords of the property are looking to sell the building once they get permission to extend it and the island is now home to luxury brands and expensive rents. However, for now, it remains and anyone visiting the island should make a point to drop by while they still can, just in case. Here's hoping this romantic dream remains alive for years to come!
A truly beautiful place, it is located in Oia, Santorini’s northernmost village, in one of those iconic whitewashed buildings with a decorative mural of books haphazardly arranged on shelves on the exterior wall. Walk downstairs and you'll enter into two rooms stuffed floor to ceiling with books in English, as well as some in Greek, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese. Carefully curated, with books pleasingly displayed on tables and shelves, they boast a wide range of tomes to choose from and some first editions for connoisseurs. A stairs also takes one upstairs, to the terrace where events take place and there are incredible views over the Aegean.
The future of the store is currently uncertain, as the landlords of the property are looking to sell the building once they get permission to extend it and the island is now home to luxury brands and expensive rents. However, for now, it remains and anyone visiting the island should make a point to drop by while they still can, just in case. Here's hoping this romantic dream remains alive for years to come!
Photo credit: Norbert Nagel / CC BY-SA 3.0
