After speaking at FOSDEM, I did a bigger trip through a few countries, and one of them was England. I’m a big fan of Tolkien, so I decided to explore Oxford too. I wrote more about it on the page Oxford for Tolkien fans.

Stay

We got an airbnb not far from the main street where the universities were. I think 15 minutes walking were enough to get there. Nothing to complain about the airbnb, the host was very polite and helpful. I don’t really think it’s worth mentioning them here as it’s been 5 years since I’ve been there and the listing may be very volatile, but if you really want it, please ping me and I can try to find it.

Transport

I got there by train and the rest was just walking around. Didn’t use any kind of transportation inside the city.

Places

• Magdalen College: Great university to visit. They have the “Addison’s Walk” where the Inklings talked about religion and where C.S Lewis was converted to Christianity.
• Blackwell bookshop: A nice bookshop that has a section dedicated to Tolkien.
• Bodleian Library and Radcliff camera: On Wednesdays they have (at least they had, in 2017) a bigger tour through the library and underground, so it’s the best day to visit. The library is quite old and great to visit.

Food

• Eagle and Child: The place where the Inklings (J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, et al) met for their meetings. It’s quite a nice pub.
• The lamb and (???) [I really don’t remember 😅]: is the other pub that the Inklings used for the meetings. Not bad at all and quite close to the Eagle and Child.