5 comments about Barcelona (City Guide).

1. My boyfriend and I had three days to spend in Barcelona and I'm so glad we had this book. It was super up-to-date (i.e., warning us ahead of time that the cable cars at Montjuic were under construction and non-operational) and the views on the suggested walking tours -- especially the Modernisme walking tour -- were gorgeous.
   
   Most importantly, the eating guide within was very helpful.



2. This is a nice, detailed map of the main part of Barcelona's city. It has all of the major sites labeled right on the map, and it includes all streets, even the very small ones. It also has a subway map, which is a necessity. It doesn't include much of the outskirts, but that is fine for a map of this size. The plastic covering on the map has come in handy, but it isn't completely sealed, so it did leak in a little water when I used it in the rain. Glad I bought it - I would buy it again!



3. I've always found LP guidebooks helpful - they fit our budget, have an interesting range of suggestions for sights to see, and are usually dead-on with descriptions. This was the first one that let us down on our travels. It is very frustrating for two people new to a city to make their way, starving at 3 pm, to a "highly recommended" restaurant and find it no longer in business. And this happened to us thrice! Two restaurants had closed down, and one had changed name and ownership. We had also taken DK's Real City Barcelona guide, and this was much more useful. Its choices were affordable (look for the check mark next to the listing that indicates a good deal), diverse and filled with locals - always a positive sign.
   I did still use Lonely Planet for planning itineraries for our days in Barcelona, but feel the book has lost some of the go-to quality that I once associated with LP guides. Time for a new edition, and one that thoroughly investigates what goes between the covers!



4. This book definitely needs to be updated. I was able to use it for general information, but when it came to actually getting around and practical advice for restaurants, hotels, etc., I found the Top Ten guide much more helpful. In retrospect, I would not have purchased this book.



5. This book is filled with helpful information about hotels, transportation and sights. I have found that I like Rick Steve's books even better. Both are helpful for travel planning.

2 comments about Streetwise Seville Map - Laminated City Street Map of Seville, Spain.

1. I Love these Streetwise maps! The are a durable plastic construction and compact, EASY to take and use anywhere, rain or shine! They are also very detailied and clearly laid out! I highly reccomend them! I have several!



2. Its great. Very handy, easy to open. Finally no more coffee stains while looking for a street. I do recommend this map to anybody. You always open it on the right spot.

2 comments about Time Out Lisbon (Time Out Guides).

1. This new edition came out just in time for our July 2001 trip to Lisbon, and we found it to be the best guidebook out of the few we purchased. The city maps are great, the recommendations are right on, and the trips out of town section is a great bonus. This book was a great resource to find beyond the tourist track activities, sights and restaurants, with honest opinions.

   A great plus is that the book is small enough to easily slip into a travel bag and tote with you around town. Bravo!




2. We cancelled our Christmas trip to Buenos Aires at the last minute due to the rioting there and we had 2 days to come up with another plan. We went through the Time Out city guides (as they have been terrific for previous trips to Naples, Edinburgh and Venice)and Lisbon seemed like the perfect place for a 4 day trip out of New York City. We immediately got to work using this guide to pick the hotel and create a simple and groovy 4 day itinerary of museums, restaurants and sights. The guide was so easy to use, it has well detailed maps and all the described places are given clear map references. Unlike the case with many other guide's hotel reviews, the hotel we picked was exactly as they described it.
   The guide is also great if you enjoy exploring the newer and more modern parts of European cities (the Guggenheim isn't the only modern architecture worth seeing on the Iberian Penninsuala). We visited the former site of the Expo 98 and it was fascinating and exciting with many examples of world class architecture.
   The gay and lesbian section was also very accurate and insightful.
   I think these city guides suit openminded and adventurous travellers who are willing to visit places in a slightly left of center way and mix with all different types of people.

No comments about Fodor's Barcelona, 2nd Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1 comments about Top 10 Lisbon (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. I gave this guide to my daughter and son-in-law who were staying in Lisbon for a week and they said it was indispensible. They used it for restaurants, sites, and shopping. She had brought other guides with her but none, she said, were as good as this one.

5 comments about Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Spain.

1. I opened this book with great anticipation because of my previous happy trips to Provence with Peter Mayle and Tuscany with Frances Mayes. Though Stewart's reporting of his experience as an ex-pat living on a rustic farm in Spain is serviceable and may be useful to someone planning a comparable adventure, the book never achieves the transporting quality of the best of this genre. When I closed it (half-way through), I missed enjoying that delicious sense of having made a trip to a new place without leaving my own armchair.



2. What a pleasure it was to read this book. I just came out of National Poetry Month here on the NH Seacoast -- six weeks (it's expanding in both directions from April) of poetry readings with a festival of jazz and poetry as its centerpiece. I attended, hosted, read at, and otherwise participated in nearly 30 events during this period. When it was over, I needed a break; my brain hurt. At that point, I ran into a bus-driver friend who is also a reader. I asked him what he was reading and he recommended Driving Over Lemons. I usually plan my reading months ahead of time; but this time I bought it on impulse. What a treat. Totally laid back. Exciting but not sensationalist. Interesting but not preachy. A cast of genuinely quirky characters -- thankfully, not a "normal" one among them. And sheep, dogs, herbs, heat, flies. All bisected by a willful river. If you approach this book desiring anything more than something that is a simple pleasure to read, you're doing it a disservice. It certainly got my mind out of poetry long enough for me to regain my balance so I can now go back in fighting.



3. Read every one of Chris Stewart books and will continue to read as long as he keeps on writing.



4. I found this to be a rather odd book, reading like a series of snapshots of the author's life in rural Andalusia. Stewart spends many pages at the beginning of the book recounting a lot of disagreeable time spent with the man who sold him his Spanish homestead in the province of Granada. It isn't until he has cleared this particular barrier that the story got more interesting for me.
   
   There is some good writing in this journal about living off the land in a country not your own, but the same story has been told countless times by others. (What is it about the English that sends them off to the Continent to live rough so often?) Not sure that there are many revelations here that would drive you to buy this book. Still, it is pleasant reading in many of its parts and if you are interested in things Spanish, this might be a good read for you.



5. This story provided a wonderful escape as I read it and pictured the valley and the mountains, the river and the sheep...it does a great job of making me want to take on a similar adventure!

1 comments about Pocket Map and Guide Madrid (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. I recently spent one day in Madrid and bought this guide to help me get the most out of my 24 hours. And it was great! The book touches on the major sights organized by the city's 3 areas. It has a metro map as well as an excellent fold-out street map of the city center. This is not a book I would necessarily purchase for a longer trip, although it would be a very good supplement.

1 comments about Race to Dakar.

1. I must say I really enjoyed this book. The DVD was good, but the book is great. You really get the feeling you are along with the racers. IMO I have read the LWR and feel that the Race to Daker is a better book.

5 comments about The Pursuit (The English Garden Series #4).

1. This is the first and last Lori Wick book for me. The Characters were shallow, simple puppets moving through a prescribed series of very boring events. I found myself skimming through great portions of the chapters involving characters I can only assume were part of other books in her series, but which I found extraneous and irritating here. There also seemed to be a serious lack of real research for a historical piece, with anachronisms abounding. I found the protagonists simplistic, and their actions overwrought for the situation. The twin's grandmother,(the villain here) was very one-note, with no attempt on the author's part to make her a real person. Instead she appears as almost an afterthought used to explain the ridiculously melodramatic and circuitous actions of the boys mother. Not worth the paper it's printed on, or the time I wasted forcing my way though it.



2. The Pursuit is quite an exceptional book for the Christian fiction genre. It deals with the issue of a woman, dressing as a man, who is on the run from someone or something. The book takes the normal Wick layout of the two main characters' meeting and falling in love. This book is an extremely easy read, it flows incredibly well so that you do not know you have been reading the book for hours. While it is an easy and quick read, it also does not stray from the normal romance novel plot line. It is a very predictable book. The characters again are normal for a romance novel. One of them always has either a big secret of is incredibly rich, well in this book , you have both. this book lacks no big shock or action in this book, and everything stays with the general plot line. I would recommend this book if and only if you like the romance plot line.



3. Although I love Lori Wick's earlier works, her latest english series was disapointment after dissapointment with each new book. The beginning starts off with some hope to redeem the series, but by the middle it becomes all to predictable and juet like her other works. If you want a good Lori Wick read Pretense or Princess; however, she obviously proves with this one that she is past her prime and out of clever ideas.



4. I am a big fan of stories from this era, and I really enjoyed all four books in this series. This one in particular had a really interesting plot that I would not have expected. I live in reality... I don't need a story to further dwell on that. I enjoy that Lori's books are so ideal, so perfect. I don't mind that the characters aren't "believeable" as some have criticized. That's exactly why I read them! It's fun to escape. And yet in the story there are neat twists and turns. They aren't completey predictable. I recommend this book highly. And I enjoy that the characters you meet as the series goes along are main characters in later books. That is a very neat aspect. By the time you read the later books, you've developed a "caring" for the characters and can't wait to see what happens in their lives. I do recommend reading the books in order. I skipped book 2 because I didn't own it and read it last. I wish I hadn't. It isn't necessary, but I think you miss out when those characters pop up in the later books.



5. I loved this Lori Wick book, the entire English series is one I enjoyed, and have reread a couple times already, this book however touched on a mothers heart, and how far she would go to keep her children safe. It touched on trust and letting people close to us. And ultimately trusting the Lord to provide what we most need and desire. This was defintely a worthwhile read.

1 comments about Michelin Spain & Portugal/Michelin Espana & Portugal: Tourist and Motoring Atlas (Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas : Spain & Portugal).

1. This is an excellent and highly detailed driving map. My only negative comment is that it is so detailed, a magnifying glass may be needed to read certain roadway areas.