Book Lovers, your time has come!

For someone who enjoys reading and/or loves old books, there is nothing better than a book fair and right now, one is happening in Salamanca under the official name of ‘XXII Feria Municipal del Libro Antiguo y de Ocasión’, or, in English, ‘The 22nd Municipal Fair of Old and Used Books’. 



The feria takes place on Plaza Mayor from October 25th until November 9th and the ‘opening hours’ are as follows: Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 14:00 and then from 17:30 to 21:00; and on Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 to 14:30 and then from 17:30 till 21:30. 24 bookstores from all over Spain come to Salamanca to sell their books and you can see stands all the way from Alicante, Granada and Santander as well as some from more nearby such as Burgos, León, Madrid, Salamanca, Segovia, Valladolid and Zamora. 



However, the feria isn’t ‘just’ about books, these 2 weeks are filled with 29 activities where the books are always in the centre of attention. Everybody can take their pick when it comes to the activities, there are lectures for the more serious among us as well as concerts for the ones who enjoy music and we cannot forget the little ones – for them there will be storytellers who can fly them from Salamanca to other wonderful places and spark their interest in stories and books. 

Whether you like old (I mean antique) books or simply want a new book and don’t mind it being second hand, then you definitely need to have a look at this fair. I love reading so naturally I had to visit the feria and I was very (pleasantly) surprised by the amount of choice, and the amount of languages – there were a lot of Spanish books, of course, but also books in English, German, Portuguese, Italian, French and other languages. 

I left the feria with a bag full of books for myself (in English and some children’s books in Spanish) and a few Christmas presents for my German friends. However, please beware, you should not go there if you are in a hurry because you will be late. As my friend said, getting lost in the feria of stories is not only possible, it is inevitable.