No comments about Fast Talk Spanish - Essential Language for Short Trips (Lonely Planet).

5 comments about Walking the Camino De Santiago.

1. I had read elsewhere that the only thing to recommend this book was the fact that it was light. I have to agree. I would have been upset carrying any more weight especially as the info was often wrong. If one is able to read any other language there are much better books in almost every other language.I would suggest that the hiking section on Spain in the "Lonely Planet" is all one actually needs. As an aside, the comments on the local birds would not pass any children's needs. Example- they comment that we are now obviously nearing the coast as we now start seeing seagulls.The graphs for distance and elevation are not nearly as accurate or as detailed as those available for free at many of the hostels. The info is often so poor that I have serious doubt that the authors walked yhe Camino before writing the book. they definately did not spend many nights staying in any of the refugios.



2. This travel or walking guide to the "Camino de Santiago" represents the best of small publishers or self publishing. The author and her husband researched the area by walking the Camino several-times - developing good and valid information.
   
   Bethan did a good job on a "shoe string" {probably a broken shoe string} budget. As a small business owner I am impressed with Bethan's ability to develop a small business {in a foriegn country} and than to produce a good product/Book.
   
   As a treker and walker I also appreciate the small size and light weight of the book.



3. I have just returned from walking the Camino from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Finisterre, and I used this book as my travelguide. I know that only one star is a tough judgment, but this book has too many inaccurate kilometers, and too many failures about which cities who has/has not alberques (the places where you can overnight as a pilgrim). When you walk the Camino, you certainly need to have a very accurate guide with you, and therefore I can not recommend this out-dated one.



4. This book and duct tape is all you need for a successful pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago! I bought and studied many books before I left for Espana, but this is the one that stayed with me. (Others were dumped en route - poor utility-to-weight ratings.) This informative book however, was referred to frequently. I bonded with several other pelegrinas because we were carrying the same book. My secret to success? Before I left home, I carefully cut out all the pages that I didn't need. I removed the first half of the book because I started walking in Leon. Then I taped the rest of the book together with duct tape. OK, so I actually used clear packing tape ( a little lighter in weight and I could still enjoy the graphics on the front cover).
   I recommend this cleverly written and organized book - and don't forget the duct tape!



5. Although this guide is written for walkers, we also found it an excellent guide for cycling. The authors' evident enthusiasm for flora and fauna adds an enjoyable aspect to the excellent cultural descriptions and practical details. I would also recommend the slim book of maps "Camino de Santiago" by John Briarly for cyclists (and perhaps walkers as well).

5 comments about Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture.

1. I am sure Saramago's tales are more lively than they come across in this book. Although I'm certain it was translated with care, the third-person narrative doesn't quite do it in English. I wish I had bought the Portuguese book and worked my way through, it is surely more lyrical and less clunky than this version.



2. I am reading this book and am laboring through it hoping it will get to something interesting or useful because I am planning on traveling through Portugal later this year. So far it has been very boring. I don't get a great insight of Portugal's history or culture. It is mostly a travelogue of his town by town personal encounter with little to relate. So far its been very disappointing and I feel like its a waste of time.



3. Understandably, this book will be difficult reading for many American readers. It is not filled with action, sex, violence, or touristic visions. It is neither efficient nor pragmatic. Nevertheless, Jose Saramago is a Nobel Prize Winner for good reason. He writes with a depth of feeling and intense love that cannot be missed. The translation loses, as most translations do, the poetic passions of the author. However, if one can accept a very different style of writing, one that is decidedly not British nor American, this work will indeed be a journey.



4. I eventually struggled through to the end of "Journey to Portugal", more as a duty than a pleasure. After the first third, the sameness of the descriptions of churches, buildings and art works became a bit boring.
   
   Sarmago certainly writes with insights that would resonate with readers who are familiar with the history, culture and art works of Portugal. I am not, so many of Saramago's allusions and comments on the churches and buildings he saw were opaque to me.
   
   Having read (and reviewed) "Seeing", "Blindness" and "The Cave" by Saramago, I was a little disappointed at first with "Journey to Portugal". However, my disappointment was relieved by beautiful passages sprinkled through the text.
   
   Saramago was born in Portugal and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. "Journey to Portugal" is nominally a travel book, but of a special kind: it describes spiritual as well as spatial journeys.
   
   The book is written in the third person, with Saramago referring to himself throughout as "the traveller".
   
   Reflective travellers will understand when Sarmago says "...when the street descends once more to the old cathedral so does the rain; it overflows the gutters and, as one idea follows another, the traveller remembers how the waters of the Minho ran down the hard shoulders beside the street, how small the world is, all its memories jumbled together in the minimal space inside the traveller's head."
   
   He also gives beautiful little word pictures of the lives and people he encountered on his journey. These are the real gems in this book, and why it is worth reading.
   
   In one especially memorable story ("The Man Who Could Not Forget") Saramago gets into conversation with the waiter at dinner about his travel plans and learns that the waiter was born in Cidadelhe, one of the small, remote villages Saramago plans to visit.
   
   Many years ago, when the waiter was a child, his sick young sister died on the way to get medical help, because none was available in their impoverished village. The waiter has never forgotten this family tragedy. His emotions are still raw as he talks to Saramago, who asks the waiter to come with him to the village and show him where he lived.
   
   Saramago concludes thus: "The traveller returns to his room. He spreads out his big map on the bed and looks for Pinhel. There it is, and the road which heads off into the hills. At some point in this space a seven-year-old girl died; then the traveller finds Cidadelhe, on the heights, between the Rivers Coa and Massueime, it really is at the ends of the earth, the end of life. If there is no one to remember."
   
   The book resonated with me for another reason. To quote Saramago: "The traveller preferred to admire the late afternoon gazing down towards the River Torto . . . . and then spent a long while leaning back against a wall . . . because from behind it there wafted the most exquisite perfume of flowers . . ."
   
   Far too often in our travels we are driven onwards by an inexorable schedule that allows little time to stop and actually enjoy moments such as Saramago describes.



5. This is Jose Saramago's spiritual journey through (primarily rural) Portugal. It's not a light-reading travel narrative. The feeling of this book is something of a cross between Henry Adams and James Michener. It's a book to read slowly and savor, in order to appreciate Saramago's tremendous metaphorical skill. He paints the picture slowly, with deliberate brush-strokes that reveal the masterpiece when viewed from a distance.
   
   Yes, his descriptions of churches, winding roads, rain and his seemingly unconscious cultural insecurity (his came from a poor family and was not a university graduate) can become tedious, but that's only if you don't grasp the larger picture: Portugal is a settled land with hundreds of years of historic layers. Saramago wants to peel those layers back for you to expose the core. Only the reader can decide if he's been successful.

5 comments about Barcelona The Great Enchantress (Directions).

1. Which is not a bad thing, since the original 574-page version, written in 1992 just after the Barcelona Olympics, is too verbose. This version appears to have benefited from aggressive editing, deleting much of the generally irrelevant material on Barcelona's history and Catalan literature and art, which may generously be described as undistinguished.
   
   Hughes' real strength lies in architectural criticism, and here he shines. Readers who share that interest may well want to buy the 1992 version which discusses that topic in depth.
   
   Neither book, unfortunately, has a sufficient number of pictures.
   
   There is an excellent VHS tape of Barcelona [ASIN: 6303209777] that combines both ground and aerial footage. Well worth purchasing.



2. A brief sample history of Barcelona and its effect on art, architecture, and the people. Hughes fell in love with this city and became a frequent visitor to the second largest city in Spain. Barcelona is indeed a famous city and one of the holdouts to the Franco regime in the Spanish CIvil War. Perhaps Hughes through his wording tried to convey his love of the city in his writings. However this book came across as a sketchy summary history of this great city.
   
   This is an OK read on this great city. If you want more history, check out Hughes earlier book on this city.



3. I brought this book along with me on my honeymoon to Paris and Barcelona and started reading it on our overnight train to Barcelona. I finished it in about four hours of reading, closing it just before getting in a cab to our Barcelona hotel.
   
   Barcelona: The Great Enchantress is a page turner, especially if you are planning a trip there. In fact, if you are planning a trip there, this book is mandatory reading. It will pump you up for your visit like no tour guide can do. It doesn't contain a lot of in-depth advice for tourists or a careful history of Barcelona's rich architectural history (Hughes has another book for that, although I have not read it). What it does is whet your appetite.
   
   Read this book and get excited about one of the most amazing cities in Europe! This is travel writing at its best and most engaging.



4. This book is the perfect length for the plane flight from America to Barcelona. It is also a bit choppy and has been fairly obviously edited from its much larger original text. If you enjoy art and architecture, you'll probably want more than the tidbits that this book has to offer; if you don't, it's not accessible nor well-written enough to give you a fundamental understanding of what you are looking at when you are on the ground in Barcelona. It's very much a memoir or an autobiography, so read it with the understanding that what you like and what Robert Hughes likes may be very different things. As a traveler who likes to research the places he is going pretty extensively before I travel, I found this book fairly lacking in interesting details and far too personal for my taste, but as far as I can tell it is the only non-travel-guide book of its kind out there on the ancient city of Catalonia. In short, I would check this book out of a local library for the trip, as its length fits nicely into the trans-Atlantic flight doldrums, but don't spend the money purchasing it for life, unless you're like me and you plan on putting it on your bookshelf so everyone can see how snooty and worldly of a traveler you are.



5. This small volume overflows with passion for Barcelona's art and architecture, subjects Hughes generously expands to include cultural history, food, and politics, as well as sketches of his personal engagement with Barcelona's people and the creative life-force of the city. Hughes writes, "You are lucky if not too late in life, you discover a second city other than your place of birth which becomes a true home town."

No comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Beijing (Wallpaper City Guide).

3 comments about Time Out Madrid (Time Out Guides).

1. If you are going to Madrid there are two books minimum you must read before hand and take with you: Eyewitness Guide Madrid, and this Time Out Guide. I have been to Madrid several times and always take the most current version of the Time Out with me.
   To understand why the books are so good, you need to know that Madrid has the greatest number of bars and restaurants per capita of any city in the world. In Spain, the people of Madrid are given the nickname gatos, which means cats, because they stay up all night. They go to work at 8am, leave at noon, go home and sleep after the big meal of the day, return to work at 5pm, work until 9, leave work and go to tapas bars, where they have one drink and a snack, move to the next. Keep moving until around 11pm, when they stop for dinner, then it is off to a disco club, flamenco club, or a bar. But the same m.o.: in for a half hour or hour, then move on again. At 4:30 am on the weekends there are traffic jams because the streets are so busy. And I saw only one person who was drunk, that person undoubtable a tourist. The locals have fun, but behave themselves.
   
   This is why the Time Out guide is so valuable. Even if you dont want to stay up until 4 am, the Time Out guide assumes that just as important as the monuments and art musems, the lifestyle is a 'must do' part of your stay. The book has 109 pages devoted to details on cafes, bars, arts and enteratinment. There is another 22 pages just on shopping; the 18 pages of hotel listings are detailed and a good source of information. The first 34 pages do a solid job of covering history, architecture, and modern Madird; 44 well done pages on sightseeing sights. Although the Eyewitness Guides usually win the best map award, the maps in this guide I think are acutally a little better. Slightly larger and they include the bus routes.
   
   Two of my favorite places I found by reading this book, both on the same street 4 doors apart. The Time Out guide says "CARDAMOMO, open 9pm-4am daily. If you've got any interest in flamenco or salsa, this is an essential stop. The dancing varies from eye-catchingly sensual to reassuringly clumsy. No one here gives fig about such niceties, and the gitano flavour ensures the music can't be resisted for long."
   
   The other is "EL BURLADERO open 3 to 3:30am daily. A packed two-storey locale off Plaza Santa Anna that's regularly full of copupes swinging each other round to flamenco, shouting Ole, and clapping. On the upper floor its calmer and a bit more space."
   
   The descriptions are accurate, you wont find them in the other books. You would miss alot if you didn't have this book on your trip. When you go to Madrid, use the jet lag to your advantage; sleep in the middle of the day and early evening, get up at 10, go out for dinner, wander the Plaza Santa Ana area, catch a flamenco show, and see if Madrid isn't one of your all time favorite cities.



2. After living in Madrid for six months, I can honestly say this is the best guide that we found for recommendations on local bars, cafes, restaurants, shopping, nightlife, and tourist attractions. For people with a limited amount of time in the city it might be best to go with a tourism-focused guide like Rick Steves which gives you specific itinerary recommendations, but Time Out would still be a good secondary guide for those folks. It contains extensive information on all of the usual and unusual tourist sights, including up-to-date pricing and hours, as well as an abundance of listings of bars, restaurants, and cafes that contain more locals than tourists (which I prefer). I know I'm sounding like an ad for Time Out, but this was the first time I'd used one of their guides and I was impressed. It ended up being the one we turned to again and again, when we needed a recommendation but wanted something that would feel truly "Spanish" (and not created for tourists). We also found their day-trip info for the surrounding towns very helpful. I couldn't more highly recommend this guide.



3. The basics are here: what's where, hotels, restaurants, museums, and the rest. If there were no other guides to Madrid, this would probably be OK. If you're a twenty-something party animal, it's probably quite good. This has a strong emphasis on night life, music, and sport. It points out the places that are friendly to same-sex social life as well as the more traditional venues. If you're in the target demographic, you'll probably like this a lot better than I do. I have just a little time away from a business trip to enjoy the city, and I'm looking for a different side of the city.
   
   Irrespective of the book's intended readership, a few things about it annoy me. On the positive side, it's attractively illustrated. Too often, though, an enticing picture has no caption and offers no way to find out more. Worse, although p.7 assures us that "no establishment has been included because it advertised in any of our publications," an awful lot of pages look just like advertisements to me, the kind that you'd see bought and paid for in travel magazines. The most annoying of the ads, though, are the many for other "Time Out" guides and products.
   
   So, decide what you want and what you don't want in a travel guide. If you differ from me in both areas, this guide might work for you. In that case: great! It's just not for me.
   
   //wiredweird

2 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Barcelona (Wallpaper City Guide Barcelona).

1. True to it's brand, this Wallpaper* City Guide featured some of the Barcelona's best things to see and do.
   
   A big, honking drawback: the map is small and as a result is utterly useless. But the guide's other content is worth it. I also loved the section for notes (with matte-finished paper for easy writing) and sketches.



2. I was not happy with this guide, it was too clever for it's own good. There was not enough detailed, practical information....isn't that why one buys a guide? There were interesting points discussed, if the basics had been there I would have rated it higher. I liked the size, that's it.

5 comments about Pamplona: Running the Bulls, Bars and Barrios in Fiesta de San Fermin.

1. There are many stories about Pamplona,
   some true, some not. Most are inaccurate.
   Mouton has found a way to report the History
   with the Present that makes it both valuable
   to historians as well as first timers.

   If you are a first timer - get this book so that you
   are prepared. If you go there often, get it as
   well. This way you won't have to struggle to
   remember everything - which is hard to do because
   it seems like one big wonderful dream.

   One could argue that Pamplona is better than anything
   Hemingway wrote, since it incorporates the history
   with the present day scene.

   Lastly, Mouton is an experienced runner and has helpful
   tips on how to run. Running gives you an experience
   that Hemingway never had.

   Enjoy.




2. "A Day in the Life of Fiesta" is another way to think of Mouton's account of the sometimes-overwhelming sensory experience of the Fiesta of San Fermin, a.k.a. the Running of the Bulls. The author's descriptive and literary talents allow one to vicariously experience both a day and the entire week of the infamous fiesta. It is perhaps cliché to say that Mouton has hit a home run or a bull's-eye with this book, but it is also highly accurate. I've attended fiesta many times over the past two decades and can confidently say that Mouton has brought this world-renowned fiesta to life with words - and as any veteran fiesta-goer will tell you, this is no easy accomplishment.

   In reading this book you will come as close as possible to feeling the immense energy of fiesta, of smelling, tasting, dancing, hearing and rejoicing in the fiesta experience without actually being there. For veterans it will spark fiesta flashbacks and a longing to return. For potential fiesta goers it may just provide enough of a description to catalyze you into finally buying that plane ticket.

   I first attended fiesta upon graduating college and those first few years were a blur of collegiate-style binging and revelry. Luckily I could remember enough about each year that I kept coming back. I had been infected with the fiesta spirit. In hindsight my only wish is that I had had a book like this one to read back then. What has taken so many years to learn and appreciate about the joys and beauty of fiesta would have been learned much faster with this account of and guide to the fiesta experience.

   Most people who have attended fiesta will usually avoid trying to explain the experience to the potential traveler and will respond with "Just go and see for yourself. You will love it." At last there is an excellent piece of writing to do justice to the "what is it like?" question. Mouton's literary accomplishment is highly commendable. The benchmark has been set. Veteran fiesta goers will have many "ah-ha" moments as they read and potential newcomers now have a starting platform from which they can maximize their first fiesta experience.




3. The best book I have ever read on San Fermin!!!!! It captures the very heart and soul of fiesta-the Alegria. If you have already been-it will make you ache to go back again and again! If you haven't been-read this first and you will enjoy it much more. I went in 2005, thinking it would be a once in a lifetime event-and after reading this I booked a hotel for next summer, and may not ever miss another year!! Viva San Fermin! Read this book. As Michener said himself "This book is the next best thing to going to Fiesta itself".



4. The best book ever written about Sanfermines, the festival of San Fermin known to many as the running of the bulls. This truly is a guide to Fiesta. No other work published will better educate and prepare you for this event. A well written must for all who plan on attending and immersing themselves in the spirit of Fiesta.
   
   Held each year in Pamplona, Spain in July, Sanfermines is much more than the daily spectacle of the encierros or "the running of the bulls" early each morning and much more than the corrida de toros in the Plaza de Toros late each afternoon. The fiesta is a celebration of family and life in Navarra.
   
   Fiesta belongs to the Navarrans, and has for centuries; however the gracious citizens of Iruña (Basque for Pamplona) have opened their arms to the people of the world, inviting all to participate in what has often been described as one of the most exhilarating experiences on planet earth.
   
   Of course you should read Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", however if you buy only one book before heading to Sanfermines, it should be Ray Mouton's "Pamplona: Running the Bulls, Bars and Barrios in Fiesta de San Fermin."



5. I truely enjoyed this book. Someday I will get there and also live the legend of this city that Ernest made popular- though it was doing just fine without him.
   
   Good writing takes you to a place you have not been before and Ray Mouton does it with this book.

2 comments about Knopf MapGuide: Rome (Knopf Mapguides).

1. I had checked out a book from the local library and liked it so much I came on amazon to buy that book, Fodor's Rome's 25 Best, 6th Edition (25 Best). Amazon then recommended this book to me and after looking it over decided to give it a try.
   
   My wife and I went on a 12 day cruise of the Med and ended that we 3 days in Rome right before Thanksgiving 2006 (Nov. 2006). This book more than paid for itself with all of the helpful reviews in it and suggestions. But the topper for me was the quality and size of the maps. We looked enough like tourists in the city, but this little book and it's fold out maps helped us look a little less so. They were more than details enough, and having suggestions on them we found a wonderful place to eat one night, it was great.
   
   If you want something that is small and compact, yet still provides great details in terms of maps of a city this is the book for you. And there is no huge map to fold and unfold as you walk around a city. This book breaks the city in to sections and based on where you are you have only a small map to easily unfold and use.
   
   I highly recommend this book.



2. Ok.. I am a travel book freak. This is the best travel guide around. I have about seven of them Barcelona,Rome,Naples,New York, Venice etc... Everything about this guide is great. Visually great ...Small fits in
   your pocket or small purse Great maps.. hard to get lost even in Venice. Great recommends ,hotels, food and.. I am a shopper.. Absolutely great & unusual shops ..None of the bad tourist gear only the styling gear.. .I had five guides to Rome over two trips to Rome this is the one we used every day...Do not go anywhere without this guide if there is one available for the destination Im will be traveling to....

4 comments about Frommer's Portugal (Frommer's Complete).

1. I went to Portugal November of '98' and had purchased several books before my trip. I found this book very acurate and helpful. I was nervous because this book had no pictures or photos, I had to just trust it. It was right on the mark. The best place we stayed was in Sintra in a bueatiful bed and breakfast among Sequia Trees, and was average in price.



2. I went on a trip with a bunch of friends and between all of us we had every travel book on portugal that's been published so I had the chance to compare Frommer's to the other guides.
   
   Pros: Great restuarant/bar and hotel tips. All the restaurant tips were spot on. We used this guide almost every night to find places to eat and go out. Very informative about the historical/architectural significance of the sites.
   
   Cons: Poor maps - not much detail and street names and sites are not labeled. The book could also use a bit more description on how to get places. We took a side trip to Sintra and the Let's Go guide was much more useful for getting to and from the sites.
   
   Overall the book caters to a wealthier traveler than some of the other guides. Restaraurants that were listed as "moderate" in Frommers were listed as "Expensive" in some of the other guides. However, Frommers was very accurate when giving price ranges for the restaurants.



3. I heard a lot about how good are frommer's guides,and I had my experience using other companies guides for different countries,but I did not find a guide that is worst than this one.
   I came from Portugal a week ago, I spent nearly a week in Lisbon and I could write a much more useful guide than this easily.
   It all started upon arrival, the guide gave us wrong information on transportation from the airport to the City Centre including wrong prices and the travel info kiosk saved us.When it comes to restaurants and Cafes it suggested the worst with one or two exceptions.It gave us wrong closing time for a restaurant and when we arrived there paying the taxi driver 10 Euros, we discoverd that the restaurant closed already.The maps of Lisbon had wrong srreet names that are different than the names on the signs and on the map that we bought from there.In conclusion if you want to screw some one send him to Portugal with a Frommer's Portugal guide.



4. We just got back from a 30 day trip to Spain and Portugal yesterday.. I feel so compelled to write a review about this book so no one has to rely and or depend on this guide book going to portugal in future.. Here is my two cents about this guide book...
   If you get a hold of this book for free ( I wouldn't spend any money on this guide book ), read it at home to get a general overview of portugal but do not rely on the detailed information because we actually found the hard way how incorrect some of the information was...
   I would suggest spending your money on lonely planet only when it comes to europe.. our spain lonely planet book was very accurate and we depended on it for 22 days on the road...
   here is a few of the "cons" about frommers portugal..
   
   Did not have any information how to get to or from the airport from lisbon... that is basic information any guide book should have about the capital city of the country...
   
   Do not even bother looking for maps.. The few maps that are in the book lack detail and are NOT accurate... NO MAP ON EVORA... one of the major touristic cities of portugal...
   
   Lack of detail in general and too much history....
   
   Anyway, that's how I feel about this guide book.. that is sucks and should never be published so no traveller gets a hold of it like me who borrowe it from library and a last minute thing thought I could at least use it.. Wrong..