When you think of Santorini, Greece, you don't normally think about a bookstore. For good reason, there's only one on the entire island. Atlantis Books is the sole bookstore on the entire island, and it hasn't been around for a long time, either.
The mural on the exterior of Atlantis Books captures your attention, but can barely set you up for the wonder inside.
In 2002, two American men, undergraduates spending a year abroad at the University f Oxford, found themselves on the island of Santorini after a stay in Athens. Craig Walzer and Oliver Wise had spent a week on the island when they ran out of books to read. However, they were unable to restock, because besides a few kiosks, there were no book stores on the entire island. This realization led them to open their own bookstore. Yep, simple as that.
Flash forward to 2017, and Atlantis Books is one of the best treasures that this incredible island has to offer. A book lovers paradise. Amidst the marble pathways of the historic town of Oía you will find Atlantis Books tucked away, almost unnoticeable if you aren't looking. When you take the stairs down into the store, you are greeted a mural of books and then you walk into the store and you are transported into an enchanted literary world. Books are literally all around you. Towers of shelves full of all genres and in many different languages.
If you're searching for a new book while visiting Santorini, Atlantis Books is literally the only place to go. Luckily, you'll want to spend hours here searching through the collection. From Fiction, to Young Adult, to books in Greek (if you're trying to learn the local language) French and German, to Philosophy and everything in between, Atlantis Books has no shortage of books to read.
If you enjoy spending the day at your local Barnes & Noble, you will fall head over heels with this indie treasure. Every inch of the store feels carefully crafted for book lovers, and you will have to pull yourself out of there before you spend all of the euros you brought with you for your trip.
Not only does the shop have hundreds of books for you to choose from if you forgot to pack one for the beach or if you finished yours too quickly, they also have many priceless first editions--if you're looking to
spend a couple of thousand dollars on a 1st edition of George Orwell's 1984. The wall of first editions will leave you in awe as you stare at pieces of literary history right before your eyes and leave you thinking if you have enough credit to charge one to your card.
First editions of books like Catcher in the Rye and The Hobbit line the shelves of Atlantis Books.
Not only are there hundreds of books for you to peruse, there is a ton of artwork to spend hours scrutinizing. The store is the perfect mix of bookstore and art piece. From the timeline on the wall that details the creation of the store, to the multiple sculptures on the ceilings, there is no shortage of things to look at while at Atlantis Books.
A timeline on the walls of the store details the store's history.
Books become art when you spend time reading the dozens of quotes written on the stores walls. Whether it be a single sentence or a full paragraph, there are many quotes to leave a mark on any literary lovers heart. Atlantis Books will take you hours to fully appreciate, so definitely plan more than one trip.
If you're planning on visiting the town of Oía while in Santorini (which you'd be crazy not to), making a visit to Atlantis Books will make it complete. Buy a book, or two, (or five) and appreciate the beautiful indie gem on an island of beautiful places.
