5 comments about Walking the Via de la Plata: The Camino de Santiago from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela.

1. This "review" is posted mostly to correct the strange one-star rating of the first reviewer whose positive comments really don't justify it. My remarks about "Walking the Camino de Santiago" by the same authors fully apply to this publication as well. The Via de la Plata is longer and more strenuous, but also much less crowded, than the traditional Camino Frances.



2. The first reviewer seems somewhat confused; this is actually a very good guide to the Via de la Plata route of the Camino de Santiago. The book is quite thorough and has proven very useful to us as we plan our trip. Certainly worth purchasing.



3. I carried this book on my walk from Seville to Santiago de Compostela. Both historical notes and route directions are inaccurate. Give it one star for pleasant writing style.



4. I used this book almost exclusively for my pilgrimage. The Via Plata is an incredible route. This book was wonderful and was VERY helpful. It has daily route maps and descriptions. It also gives suggestions on what you should eat in each region that you walk through. It is very easy to follow and is really all you will need to walk the Via Plata.



5. I used this guide on my trip from Seville to Merida and was most of the time annoyed by it. The format of the book is to big to put it into your pocket to pull it out when you need a quick look. It was too heavy to really take the entire book with me, so I ripped out the part I was hiking and folded it it to pocket size. I guess making copies would have been the better option. The guides that my German speaking travelers used were much more conveniently sized. Also, the hostals and hotels that were described were a bit pricey and not really where you want to stay as an average pilgrim. I liked the background information though, for example the announcement of a little box with a note book in the middle of nowhere on the path, were you could write a few lines for the hikers behind you.
   Over all I think the guide is reasonably good and has good descriptions of the path, but for the actual hiking the format is not convenient.

No comments about Living and Working in Spain 2006, Sixth Edition: A Survival Handbook (Living & Working in Spain).

4 comments about Michelin Green Guide Spain (Michelin Green Guides).

1. I have several Michelin Guidebooks and recently purchased the newest edition of the one on Spain. This book is a real disappointment and I hope it does not reflect the approach that Michelin is taking to their other guidebooks. I have a 1982 edition of the Michelin Spain green guide and it is far superior to the current larger edition. The previous layout and design is superior and lists a larger number of cities and towns with comments. For a person who is driving throughout a region, the previous editions provide a more thorough and organized approach. It was far more easy to navigate. Since 1982 to the present edition is a long time, I am not certain when Michelin decided to change their format. The current book lists many cities alphabetically and not by region (i.e., Alicante is not in the section on the Levant or Costa Blanca and it is difficult to find that region in the index). If you have access to earlier editions, I would not spend the money on the current guide. Maybe Michelin forgot to survey their readers to find out how they appreciated the previous guidebooks and they would have continued what was a tried and proven format.



2. I bought this book and thank goodness I didn't read the reviews first. First, I have to give it major points for being in a slim format, far and away preferable to other bulky travel guides. Slim however doesn't mean lacking in content. Primarily, this guide is about the sights. It gives you history, context , and culture to the things you will see. It also tells does a great job in explaining travel logistics. It also rates sights through a three-star rating system making it easier for you to prioritize things on a short trip.
   
   The main shortcomings are the non-existent discussion on how to get around using public transportation (this is Michelin after all) and the scandaluously limited lodging and eatery options. You must be good with maps for this guide to be fully useful to you because that's how sights are organized, and I don't mind that at all. I recommend getting this book in tandem with a guidebook that focuses in on budget travelling.



3. Always been impressed with Michelin guides even though the newer versions are heavier on graphics and pictures than the older versions. This particular issue on Spain appears to hit all the high points and hopefully give enough of a background to have a good time when visiting.



4. I am not sure if I like the size but the book is informative and helpful

No comments about Spain: In Light and Shadow.

No comments about Spain & Portugal Travel Map by Hema.

5 comments about The Tomb in Seville: Crossing Spain on the Brink of Civil War.

1. With several trips through Spain and Portugal in the 1990's behind me, I found this 150-page book just the right piece for turning the clock back seventy years. The previous reviewer has done a great job of summarizing the book. The two young men certainly encountered risks and took their chances in Spain as the sporadic actions of the terrible Civil War were beginning. I am most grateful to Norman Lewis for sharing his experiences with readers.



2. "The Tomb in Seville," is a real literary treat. Norman Lewis has the precise eye, the kind that reminds you of Hemingway's very effective "In Our Time" vignettes. Like Hemingway, Lewis couples finely drawn (and pregnant) images and events to a clear and understated prose. Such a combination recalls the best efforts of Rebecca West, Graham Greene and, going back, Turgenyev. To some extent I found "The Tomb in Seville" superior to Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia," though the comparison is somewhat uneven. I think, looking back, we now view Orwell's effort as part of his indictment of Communism. Lewis' effort, which precedes the events of Orwell's book, is more limited in scope (and better written).
   
   Mention is made here of this being Lewis' final book. Perhaps so, but in the Introduction mention is made of an earlier Spanish effort. Considering the slightness of the book, I tend this think "Seville" is more or less notes and outtakes of that previous effort. If so, these are quality notes and outtakes, and further testament of a fine writer.



3. A good way to be exposed to the work of the now deceased Norman Lewis. While I question if the vivid quotes and descriptions could have been so readily and clearly called to mind by the author, even if aided by contemporaneous notes, over sixty years after the events, it is wonderful writing.
   
   "...we had come to the end of Portugal. Its colour, its mystery and its splendid wilderness were no more. Forests had become managed woodlands, rivers were bridged, villages were encircled by cabbage patches and advertisements for coffee were stenciled on walls."



4. There's no agenda in this book, but the observations are so keen and the prose is so clear that you will find yourself connecting the episodes with themes of your own. The author's character is non-existant and you can substitute yourself easily enough. Never boring, I easily could have read a hundred pages more.



5. For his last book, written in his mid-eighties, Norman Lewis recounts experiences from a trip he took sixty years earlier with his brother-in-law to Spain, ostensibly to search for information on his in-laws' family history in Seville. As things happened, the trip occurred in late 1934, in the midst of civil unrest that was one of the precursors of the Spanish Civil War that broke out in full force less than two years later. Lewis was present during the five-day "Battle of Madrid" and was forced to crawl across streets while gunfire whistled overhead.
   
   To me, the more interesting incidents are not those relating to political turmoil but rather to everyday life in the Iberian peninsula (his trip also took him through Portugal) -- such things as a daily promenade in a public garden of wet nurses clutching their infant charges to their bosoms, women queuing up at a slaughterhouse to drink fresh blood from the severed veins of animals for a boost of vitality, and the communal burning of a young woman thought to be possessed by an evil spirit. And there are numerous vivid verbal snapshots, such as the one of the Portuguese village of Villa Real de Santo Antonio: "Despite the grandiose name it appeared more as an untidy village with dogs disputing the rubbish in its streets, and most of the inhabitants looked like criminal suspects temporarily free while awaiting imprisonment in chains or deportation."
   
   But in the end THE TOMB IN SEVILLE is on the thin side, both too short and too impressionistic (not so surprising after sixty years). It does not measure up to "Voices of the Old Sea", the only other book by Norman Lewis I have read. While THE TOMB IN SEVILLE is worth reading, no one need regret not getting around to it.

No comments about Insight Guide Spain (Insight Guides Spain).

1 comments about Time Out Shortlist Barcelona 2008 (Time Out Shortlist).

1. The Shortlist series are merely a physically smaller, more concise, version of the incredibly useful and informative TimeOut series. It has many of the same references for lodging, bars/clubs, getting around and the like just in a more truncated package. I would not buy both, as most listings are the same word-for-word.
   
   I would make the assessment of how much time you have in a particular city and get the short version based on a more limited amount of time. As with all Shortlists, it has key info on addresses, websites, whether credit cards are allowed, hours of operation, and costs. I would like to see better and easier to follow maps, however.
   
   TimeOut travel guides are still the most comprehensive, helpful, colorful and informative guides out there. They FAR surpass Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Berlitz, or Wallpaper guides.
   
   If you find yourself making a quick trip through an unexpected city, get a Shortlist. If you are planning in advance and want a single guide that can assist your entire trip, get a regular TimeOut.

No comments about Through the Spanish Pyrenees: The Gr11 Trail, A Long Distance Footpath 'La Senda' (Cicerone Guide).

No comments about Hedonist's Guide To Madrid 1st Edition (Hedonist's Guide to..., A).