Businesses in amazing buildings

We asked you to write about a restaurant, shop or other business housed in a historic, unique, spectacular or interesting building (outside of the US) that can be entered without paying an admission fee. We weren’t looking for a place like the Hard Rock Café that just has pictures and antiques everywhere; if it is a café, however, the architecture should be as much the experience as the meal. Or it can be a working library in a castle. Or a butcher shop in a cathedral. Or any really quirky or truly beautiful modern building being used for retail, a service-oriented business or public offices. Also, it should be a place where people dropping by for a look won’t disrupt business (much). We printed responses in the August issue, and here are a few more.

In BUENOS AIRES, the glamorous, old, baroque-style movie palace and concert hall Libreria El Ateneo Grand Splendid [click on photo of store labeled "Grand Splendid"] (Avenue Santa Fe 1860* (in the Capital Federal District), Buenos Aires, Argentina; phone 4813 6052 or 4811 6104) is now an awesome bookstore!

When I visited El Ateneo on March 4, 2010, I found a large English-language book section. I think there also was a café on the old stage.

There’s a wonderful vibe to the place. Lots of ghosts!

Anne Stoll, Claremont, CA

I visited BUDAPEST (my third time there) in November ’11. Once again, I found buildings that had been renovated since my last visit.

This time, I was especially impressed with the beautiful Art Nouveau building fronting the Alexandra Bookcafé (Andrássy út 39, 1061 Budapest, Hungary; phone +36 1 461 5835). Inside, the first floor is a bookstore and the second floor houses a café.

I enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee while admiring the lavish (although not Art Nouveau) interior decoration.

Kathy Wilhelm, Cary, NC

About 25 miles south of the oasis town of Gabès on Tunisia’s salt lake Chott el Jerid, MATMATA is one of the best-known Berber villages of ancient troglodyte dwellings. It is also one of the largest, with approximately 700 of the ancient cave dwellings, some of which are still lived in while others have become shops, restaurants and hotels.

Excavated from the local rock, the underground dwellings, some hundreds of years old, escape much of the daytime heat and maintain a year-round temperature of 17°C (about 63°F).

While some residents open their troglodyte homes to travelers, it is Hôtel Sidi Driss (6070 Matmata Ancienne, Tunisia; phone [05] 230005), aka the Star Wars Hotel, that draws the most tourists.

The dwellings were used for the interior and exterior of the home of Luke Skywalker on the planet Tatooine in the first “Star Wars” epic, “A New Hope.” Twenty-five years later, long after the “Star Wars” decor had been removed, the ancient underground dwellings were redecorated again in 2000 and used as a location for the filming of “Star Wars Part 2,” or “Attack of the Clones.”

I visited on a trip to Tunisia with Insight Vacations in May ’09. The hotel, which is open year-round, is composed of five underground courtyards, four having side rooms. (A stay costs about $12 per night in dormitory-style accommodations.) The fifth courtyard, with its “Star Wars” decor still intact, functions as the hotel’s restaurant.

Today, Matmata has road signs advertising it as a “Star Wars” location. It has become a mecca where fans of the movie epics can fantasize that they are at home with Luke Skywalker on his faraway desert planet.

David J. Patten
Saint Petersburg, FL

I do leather carving and, in FLORENCE, I love the Scuola del Cuoio, or Leather School (Piazza S. Croce 16 [or Via San Giuseppe 5/R, through the garden surrounding the apse], 50122 Firenze, Italy; phone [+39] 055 244 533/4, fax 055 248 0337), within the Basilica of Santa Croce.

The Leather School allows visitors to watch the craftsmen, which was wonderful, and, of course, buy their beautiful items. My wife and I last visited in 2005, and the bags, handbags and luggage we bought then look new despite frequent use. We have purchased more, since, through the website.

A fringe benefit for a scientist or physician — the grave of Galileo Galilei, in the basilica, is a wonderful pilgrimage site.

Dr. J. Curtis Kovacs, Sun City, AZ

Ristorante da Pancrazio (Piazza del Biscione, 92 — 00186, ROME, Italy; phone +39 06 6861246, fax 97840235) is located in the Piazza del Biscione, only a fifth of a mile from Piazza Navona and just off the Campo dei Fiori. The Campo dei Fiori, steeped in history, is a busy marketplace square in the morning and a beautiful center in the evening.

In 55 BC, Pompey, a Roman consul, began building one of Rome’s first permanent and largest theaters on the site where da Pancrazio now stands. The Roman Senate did not approve of the theater, so to appease them he added a temple at the top with steps leading to it. A curia, or meeting place for senators, was established in front of the theater. The theater was copied from a marble theater in Greece and held 27,580 people.

In the mid 1400s, Pope Callistus III “reorganized” and paved over the entire area. At this time, a number of beautiful palazzos were built.

Many executions were carried out in the nearby Campo dei Fiori, including that of Giordano Bruno, a philosopher and monk accused of heresy, who was burned alive on Feb. 17, 1600. His statue marks the location of his execution. If you face the statue, da Pancrazio is behind it and off to the left in the Piazza del Biscione.

When my husband was stationed at the American Embassy in Rome from 1992 to 1994, we took advantage of our stay to try as many wonderful restaurants as we could. We had heard that Ristorante da Pancrazio (closed Wednesday) was outstanding for its food, atmosphere and history.

Constructed in 1922 over the remains of the Theatre of Pompey, the building housing the restaurant is magnificent. If you get there early, before dining begins, you can examine the ruins of the old theater and the approximate place in the curia where Julius Caesar was murdered by Brutus and Cassius on the Ides of March in 44 BC. (People argue about the exact location of the assassination.)

You can walk to the rear of the curia, near the square Largo di Torre Argentina, so go to both ends.

We dined there four or five times. It is not often you can dine in a 2,000-year-old setting.

Sharon VanDewark, San Diego, CA

On our second day in DUBLIN during a wonderful trip to Ireland that my wife and I and another couple took in June ’12, we had supper in a building we would describe as spectacular and magnificently modified for the purpose of dining.

Housed in the former St. Mary’s Church, it calls itself The Church Café, Bar, Restaurant, Nightclub & Tourist Attraction (junction of Mary St. & Jervis St., Dublin 1, Ireland; phone [+353] 1 828 0102, fax 828 0109).

The owners maintained the basic layout of a church, keeping the organ intact. The upstairs balcony is used for formal dining, while the first floor has a pub layout and atmosphere.

We arrived early in the evening and had one of our best meals in Ireland in the lounge downstairs near the bar. Including drinks, the price of the meal was about $55 per couple.

Along with its other uses, this place is clearly a tourist attraction, and people popped in and out just to see it. That was not a bother.

To learn some of its history and how the church was modified, visit the website.

Denny Thomas, Wando, SC

Back in the days when one went into banks to convert travelers’ checks into real money, I discovered the grandeur of PARIS’ banks. I still wander in when I see an appealing façade.

Often, they have huge domes and lots of brass and marble — a lot of ornateness. And no one seems to mind a tourist wandering around admiring the decor and architecture, which often is Art Deco or Art Nouveau.

I can’t give any specific names or addresses. Since one walks and walks in Paris, it is just a matter of adding a sensitivity to bank exteriors along with cafés, museums, shops, etc.

Tedi Siminowsky, Berkeley, CA

*In the print edition of this article, ITN incorrectly listed the address of the Libreria El Ateneo Grand Splendid. The chain has another bookstore at the Florida 340 address listed in the item, but it's an ordinary store, not the famous El Ateneo!