I’ve discovered (courtesy of facebook) a new tour company that combines my love of romance novels with my love of world travel. Romancing Europe offers tours of historic Krakow and Zakapone where you can live out your bookish fantasies:

“Dine in style with a duke, discover ancient treasure protected by a knight or explore the dark ballrooms of the Wieliczka Salt Mine with a vampire. These tours offer you and your companions the opportunity draw from these incredible settings and play the part of your favorite characters in your favorite books.”

Off the top of my head, some of Katie MacAlister’s Vampire books, book 2 in Shana Abe’s Drakyn series, and Christine Feehan’s Carpathians are set somewhere in eastern Europe. Can anyone name other romance novels set in or near Poland? Knights and dukes make me think of England. Vampires are often from Moravia.

I’d love to try out these tours. What a unique experience! As always, if you come across other literary tourism opportunities, please send me the link!

Does your dream vacation include walking in Edward’s footsteps and photographing Bella’s truck? A jaunty, five-hour drive from Portland or Seattle, up the coast to the farther, rainier side of the Olympic Peninsula will get you your fix. Despite the distance, twilight fans are descending upon the sleepy little logging town of Forks. A woman at the post office told me tourism has gone up 700% since Stephanie Meyer’s internationally bestselling Twilight Saga came out. I can believe it. Before this Forks was mostly famous for being the last place to buy matches and bandaids before entering the Hoh Rain Forest.

Mr. Wonderful and I traveled to Forks this past weekend for a little Twilight action and some hiking in the beautiful Olympic National Park. I’d been to Forks as a child. As a literary tourist, it was much more entertaining.

The truck to the right is parked outside the Forks Visitor Center. It isn’t the same truck as in the movie (little of the real Forks appears in the movie), but it’s a picturesque landmark to get your picture taken with. Every business in town has joined the fun. Local motels announce, “Welcome to the Twilight Zone” and “Edward didn’t sleep here,” (vampires don’t sleep). A gas station on the road to La Push warns “No Vampires Beyond this point,” referring to the dividing line between the Quileute werewolf and Cullen’s territory.

Stay tuned for a list of things to do in Forks.