Stroll through London accompanied by a Virginia Woolf character

BarcelonaThere are many ways to travel to cities. One is to let yourself be guided by the people who live there, to get to know them well. To understand what their reality is like today. And another equally interesting way is to explore to see if anything remains of what was. To try to smell the traces of other times, often in the virtual company of someone who has already died. In London, a good traveling companion is Virginia Woolf. Or if you prefer, you can opt for Mrs. Dalloway. One of the most successful characters created by the writer.

Exactly a century ago, Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway, A work in which she imagines a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class woman from the interwar period. Clarissa goes out to buy flowers just as Big Ben strikes 10 a.m. on a June day, and this walk allows us to discover her, her life, and the society in which Woolf was trying to find her place. A member of the so-called Bloomsbury group, Woolf was a talented, modern writer who didn't have it easy, between health problems and the mores of the time. Her book was brave, written in verse, but with a modern structure. It featured characters who carried the trauma of the trenches of the First World War and dealt with daring themes from a century ago, such as bisexuality.

If we accompany Clarissa Dalloway, we can walk down the famous Bond Street, which used to be full of antique shops and is now where you'll find a Zara. And we can stop, as she does, at the oldest bookstore in the city, Hatchards, founded in 1797. They always have editions of Woolf's books here and they did a special one. Mrs. Dalloway for its centenary. The area still preserves historic businesses that appear in the book, such as the Floris perfumery on Regent Street or the Liberty London department store, opened in 1875.

In one morning you can walk through many of the settings visited by Dalloway, but also those from Woolf's life. The author lived at number 46 in the elegant Gordon Square from 1904 to 1907, the year in which she moved to number 29 Fitzroy Square, where the Bloomsbury writers' group met. And not far away, in the equally beautiful Tavistock Square, is where she lived when she wrote Mrs. Dalloway, at number 52. One great thing about London is that there are always plaques to mark where people lived. Where history was made. They honor the past. And Woolf has good taste to thank for her: she used to live in beautiful squares, not in narrow streets.

If you're short on money and work, you can go into The Bloomsbury hotel and ask for Dalloway Terrace, a space inspired by the book where you'll have to dig deep into your pocket to sample pastries, food, chocolate, or even a Spritz named after Mrs. Dalloway. You don't have to. You can keep walking if you want, because as Mrs. Dalloway would say... "And love walking in London. Really, it's better than walking in the country".

Recommendation for traveling to London

Book: Mrs. Dalloway

Author: Virginia Woolf

Publisher: La Magrana