3 comments about Spain For Dummies (Dummies Travel).

1. This was a great travel book. I chose all of my hotels and restaurants from Spain for Dummies. My family of five went to Spain for 10 days. We went to Seville, San Sabastian, Bilboa (day trip) and Barcelona after reading about each region in this book. Each city gave us a very different flavor of what Spain has to offer. The family friendly icons made it easy to find the items that were most appropiate for us. We followed the recommendations on which small, family run hotels and inns to stay in. They were perfect because they were kid friendly, yet right in the heart of the cities. The restaurants that the Spain for Dummies recommended were excellent (I can't say the same for the hotel conceirge's recommendations). The entertainment sections were also fantastic to guide us to the best bull fight arenas, to great flamenco dancer performances, and to horse shows. Our vacation was a complete success. Now I look for Dummies books for all my travel plans (unfortunately there are not many for Asia yet).



2. Don't be put off by the name or techie provenance of the Dummies' guides... this is a great book for tips and overviews. Lots of practical and accessible advice. A good companion to the richly illustrated DK guides.



3. This was a terrific book to have for planning and research. Information is easy to find and though the book was too big for me to pack in my suitcase, it was perfect for pre-trip reading. Worth the money, but also pick up some smaller guidebooks to take with you.

1 comments about Frommer's Seville, Granada & the Best of Andalusia (Frommer's Complete).

1. I would highly recommend it.

3 comments about Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage.

1. Every sailing couple will benefit from Gwyneth Lewis's Two in a Boat. The joys, sorrows, ecstacy, and anger that inevitably emerge and are shared by sailing couples are traced in elegant prose and with deep sensitivity. And, in the process, you've got one superb account of sailing from the U.K. to Gibraltar. A book not to miss.



2. Two in a Boat is very easy reading and anyone that has ever sailed with their spouse can relate to every chapter in her book. It is interesting that everyone seems to have very similar experiences. Love to sail, read this book!



3. There is as much research and nautical information as there is narrative in this story. For someone who knows nothing about sailing, it made for a fun and easy read. Made me wish I was along for the journey. I would love to know what happened next; perhaps a sequel is in the making...?

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

1. We just returned from Barcelona two weeks ago. We had three guide books with us, and this is the one that we consistently carried around. The books were identical in terms of the touristy information and sites. But where Time Out really shines is in the food and drink and nightlife sections. We tried many of their listings and they did not steer us wrong once. Also, their listing s are for places where locals also frequent, which makes for a much more pleasant trip! We had a fabulous time in Barcelona. A couple of recommendations: Park Guell is worth the trip. The following tapas bars were delicious and swarming with locals: Euskal Etxea, Bar Celta Pulperia (get the pulpo and acompany it with a bottle of albarino), and Cerveceria Catalania.



2. Don't buy this guide if you are headed to Barcelona soon...The reaon I gave it a 3-Starts rating is that some of the bars this guide recommends do not exist anymore! I wanted to go to three of them and they were all closed or replaced by other businesses.



3. I went to Barcelona recently, and in the planning of the trip I consulted four guide books:
   
   Lonely Planet's Barcelona City Guide
   Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Barcelona and Catalonia
   Cadogan Guides Barcelona (Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls)
   Time Out Barcelona
   
   All of them were good. I took two with me: Lonely Planet and Eyewitness.
   The reasons I chose those two:
   
   Eyewitness unfailingly has a good quality map, which in my view is LP's downfall. Eyewitness always includes a Street Finder Index which LP does not, and LP often misses out on streets other than the major ones, which can be very frustrating, especially in a city like Barca where there are many alleyways. I never use Eyewitness for hotels - the information is scant and usually more expensive than my (more Lonely Planet) budget, but it has fantastic colour photos and cutaways of buildings, and illustrations which place buildings within their streetscapes. It's a nice book to read on the bus or train going somewhere.
   
   LP specialises in listings, which seemed to be more up-to-date and comprehensive than either Time Out or Cadogan, It also had a good Excursions section which helped a couple of times when I travelled beyond the city. I also liked a couple of the walking routes they recommended. Information on matters such as public transport is comprehensive and detailed. I like the chapters on history, architecture and food as well.
   
   Time Out's great strength for me was in helping to plan. It had a huge array of hotels, and if you were especially interested in nightlife, I would take Time Out. I was there primarily for a conference, and many of my evenings were organised. And I'm also night a great nightclubber, perhaps contrary to Barca lifestyle!! If you are - consider Time Out. Its maps were pretty good, but not comprehensive for the area I was staying in, beachside Barceloneta.
   
   That is where the Cadogan guide excelled. Its maps were so good that I pulled them out of the book and took them with me. I would have taken the whole book, but for the weight in my suitcase! Its info about places and sights seemed accurate and comprehensive.

No comments about AA Road Atlas Spain & Portugal (AA Spain & Portugal Road Atlas).

1 comments about Travelers' Tales Spain: True Stories (Travelers' Tales Guides).

1. Lucy McCauley crafted a deft meta-tale of Spain with the stories she chose for this book--no reader or traveler to Spain will leave its pages without being enriched. How I wish this book had existed when I went to Spain as a student years ago. In fact this is one of the reasons I wanted to publish it in the first place (I'm the publisher at TT), and Lucy more than delivered the goods.

5 comments about It's Not About the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels.

1. I have traveled to Spain and will return for a second go round shortly. When I saw this book in the new paperbacks section, I couldn't resist myself. I loved this book. It's smart, funny, and Polly Evans seamlessly ties in history lessons so you don't even know you're getting them.
   Having a good Brittish friend, I understand her humor a little better than some other readers, but I laughed out loud at least once every ten pages and I am sure most others will as well.
   Having been to Spain, also makes her descriptions and stories more interesting and real to me, but it would make a great read even if you just have an interest in Spain.
   I love the little history lessons that she has sprinkled through out the book. Spain has an extremely fascinating history that she just skims the surface of. None the less, it greatens your appriciation of the places that she has traveled(and now I finally know why Spainiard love ham so much).



2. "It's Not About the Tapas: A Spanish Adventure on Two Wheels" by Polly Evans centered around the author's cycling adventure in different parts of Spain. Having left her editorial position in Hong Kong, Polly, yearned for a holiday and decided to journey across Spain by bicycle. In her journey, she met fascinating people, sample interesting cuisines and mostly trying to endure biking through the mountains.
   
   This was a below average travelogue for me. I was struggling to finish the book as I found the author's description of her journey uninspiring. The author spent more than half of the book writing about the histories of famous people or buildings, which was not unusual in travelogues, but I felt that the author presented those facts just for the sake of it. For instance, she would arrive in a particular village, and she would go on about the history of the place and then she would move on to her next destination. There were not enough of personal observations of the various places she visited or even appreciation of another culture. I also felt that most of the time, she was not happy with her lodging or the people she met and I began to wonder what was the purpose of her trip. Lastly, the author hardly shared any personal information about herself and this was also why the book was not particularly engaging.



3. At first, I really enjoyed this book and I read it for two hours straight when I should have been sleeping but I think my enjoyment was mainly due to my love of the Spanish country, people and culture.
   
   But after a while, I grew annoyed with the lengthy, boring bits of history that seemed to occur more throughout the book than the author's actual happenings. And when Polly actually did write about her trip and not about the history, I felt that she was constantly slamming someone or something--whether it be the food, the people, the hotels or the town itself. Finally, when I was halfway through the book, I couldn't take it anymore and could bear to read another paragraph and I put the book down.
   
   I do like Polly's writing style and there were humorous bits, but I am more after a memoir than a history book and I was really looking forward to a book where I could delight in hearing about Spain while away from the wonderful country itself, but instead I found a pessimistic, constantly-chastizing waste of my thirteen dollars.



4. I liked this book and don't understand why others were not engaged with this story. It's funny, well-written and full of historical trivia. Maybe TOO much history, as according to other reviewers she gets too engrossed in that part of her travel. I find travelogues with no historical references quite boring.
   
   It's apparent that Polly did her research and made us want to read more. She had lived in Spain for a year in central-western Spain studying the language and culture, so she knew her subject matter. Good travel books talk about the history of the villages so that the readers have reasons to want to read the book. I think she succeeds. She doesn't overdo herself but lets the readers know she's not the best cyclist nor the best travel planner. She can enjoy a trip on her own by taking time to cycle around Spain. She covered the major towns and travelled throughout the country. She could have done the boring and predictable thing and taken a car instead. But then those rainy nights on village roads wouldn't have been so inspirational.
   
   I will read her other books soon. I like her self-deprecating style.



5. Polly Evans' attempt at travel writing in this book is flippant, shallow and trivial. The book reads like a crappy newspaper article with terribly over-simplified historical facts, and general disdain for the Spaniards she encounters. Better luck next time Polly!

2 comments about Eating & Drinking in Spain: Spanish Menu Reader and Restaurant Guide.

1. Very handy to carry around, and filled with obscure (but useful) vocabulary to aid in translating menus.



2. The perfect addition to any traveler's bag. Carry this and never worry about what you just ordered from the menu. Highly recommended.

1 comments about Michelin Portugal Madere/Portugal & Madeira (Michelin).

1. We spent the last two weeks traveling by car in Portugal from Lisbon to the top and northeast corner of the country; over 2500 km.

   This map was vastly better than the smaller maps we had. It worked particularly well in giving us a clearer picture of what the routes would be like. We discovered no errors.

   It also contains an index of cities and villages.

   Not 5 stars for the following reasons: many small villages not on the map. (To an extent this is unavoidable given that there are so many small villages.) Also, there's no cross milage chart.

   Even more valuable would have been a chart of estimated driving times between major cities. It was all too easy to get stuck behind (very) slow moving trucks in the hilly areas. The 'N' roads, which look like major highways on the map, usually have just one lane in each direction. In addition, they can be endlessly twisty, leaving little opportunity to pass.

4 comments about Living Abroad in Spain.

1. Nicely written book. Some info may not be very useful, especially if you have been to Spain. Genreally, a pleasant reading and good organization. Will give you some idea on what living in Spain is like. You are better off if you know someone in Spain or have relatives.



2. In general, this is a useful introduction to the issues an expatriate will face when moving to Spain. As an American citizen who is considering making the move, I also like that the book is written by an American (most English-language books on moving to Spain are written by--and largely for--UK citizens, who have it much easier than Americans with regard to residency and work permits).
   
   However, I find it frustrating that Weinstein completely ignores the major catch-22 that bars most non-EU citizens from legal employment in Spain: most Spanish employers will not hire without an existing work permit, but it's extremely difficult to get a work permit without having a standing job offer. Even Google, an American company that has a branch in Madrid, will not consider applicants who do not already have EU working papers in hand. Weinstein does not say how she got around this problem; does not say how any other non-EU citizens have gotten around this problem; does not give any pointers on where to find companies that might be willing to sponsor Americans for a visa; in fact, does not mention this issue at all.
   
   Had I known of this glaring, hugely important omission, I would not have bought the book. Now you know. If what you want is general information about the logistics of life in Spain, this book is great. But if you're a non-EU citizen who is looking for guidance in circumventing the major catch-22 of employment in Spain, look elsewhere.



3. I just decided to look into moving to Spain and being green behind the ears this was the perfect book for my stage of research. Some "living in spain" books might be more detailed or specific, but Weinstein's book was written as if the author and I were sitting across the table at a Starbucks. She gave a general introduction to the highlights of not only history and culture but of the region and what locations will fit "me". A very easy and motivating read. If your still wondering if you want to make the move or where to go, this is your book.



4. The book is well written, but if you have a family, this book is not for you. The information regarding children and education is very sparse.