At the historic El Ateneo Grand Splendid book shop in Buenos Aires, I'm engrossed in a tourist paperback about Argentina. Transfixed, I thumb through all the different natural places this country has to offer. I look at colourful, varied landscapes and enormous waterfalls.
To anyone else, I'm one of hundreds of dumbstruck, selfie-taking visitors, roaming the bookstore, browsing, standing in line, having an aperitif. We're all here to see what was once a multi-story theatre. Built in 1919, El Ateneo later became a radio station, then a cinema and as of the year 2000, with a couple of million dollar renos, it became an incredible bookshop with over 120,000 titles to choose from including DVDs, CDs and records. El Ateneo is often listed as one of the world's best bookshops, and I couldn't agree more.
