I adore bookshops. I am the type of person who actually does what they call reading. So when I decided to go to Portugal, I knew I needed to make my way to the Livraria Lello bookshop in Porto. What I didn’t know was that it is more of an amusement park attraction than a bookshop.

When I arrived at Nice Way hostel, the woman who gave me the down low of Porto informed me where the bookstore was and that it was 5 euros to enter. During my first glimpse of the city, I walked past the shop and notice there was a crazy line up so I decided to come back early the next day. I couldn’t see through the line where the tickets were sold but there is a shop on the corner of the same street where the bookshop is and a sign says Check In Levraria Lello.

Tickets went on sale at 09:00 and the next day, I arrived at 08:40. The are two separate lines: one to enter the bookstore and one to buy tickets for the bookstore. The bookstore line at this point had maybe 20 people. The line I was in to get my ticket, I waited for about 45 minutes and when I emerged from the downstairs ticket sales I nearly pooped myself, the bookstore line was 200 people strong. I walked to an employee and asked if I could use my ticket for the next morning and she said well it’s dated so technically no. She suggested coming back during lunchtime at 14:00. I came back at 13:30 because I am impatient and waited for about 45 minutes to get in.

Inside was pretty… I think. The staircase that inspired JK Rowling to have a moving staircase in Hogwarts is apparently inspired by the staircase in Lello. I say I think because I couldn’t exactly see much or get a good picture since the number of people on this ride was mental.

I was told beforehand at my hostel that there are English books in the shop. To my annoyance, there were maybe 3 semi-new contemporary lit books and about 10 small format classics like Shakespeare and Peter Pan. These sold for the staggering price of 15.90 euros each.

The five euros you pay can go towards the purchase of a book but I just couldn’t justify it. When I was about to leave, I noticed a stand of self-made brochures about the bookshop which sold for 5 euros so I just got one of them before I left to make myself feel better for spending the 5 euros to enter. I later found out you can purchase tickets online so that was cool.