A book token I got for Christmas came with a ticket from our National Railservice (NS), which allowed one free trip, as long as the traveler was accompanied by another person who did buy a ticket. So we made one of the longest Dutch train journeys possible from where we live (still only 2 hours), from Utrecht to Maastricht in the southernmost tip of the country.

The last time we were there, we walked into the Dominican church and found to our surprise that it was being used for bicycle storage. This time, the architects Merkx + Girod had metamorphosed the church into a wonderful bookstore. Selexyz Dominicanen, which opened just before Christmas, is really one of the most beautiful bookshops I have ever been in.

• More images of the bookshop on flickr
• Googling for images, I found that the bookshop is also the favourite of The Guardian in a new list of 10 bookshops from around the world that complement their database of best bookshops in Scotland, England and Wales (Ireland coming up). Nine more beautiful bookshops to go and see…