No comments about Canary Islands Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

4 comments about Eyewitness Travel Guide to Seville and Andalusia.

1. Buy this book. Read it cover to cover. And do it before you leave...

   This book is the perfect orientation to Spain and what riches it has to offer. By using this book as my guide, I saw more of Andalucia than I could have ever hoped for. The photographs in the book inspired many of my own (and more!). The city layouts are fantastic for anyone who has no sense of direction. Furthermore, the book gave me a tantilizing taste of the thrills to come when I would be in Spain...




2. As with all Eyewitness Guides, this is beautifully illustrated and informative. I have to admit I read it AFTER I visited Andalusia, but wish it had been on the market when I did go. It is an excellent armchair travel book. It has certainly whetted my appetite to go back. Retrospective reading always reveals gems you wish you had discovered at the time. One real bonus of Eyewitness guides is that they have PROPER maps, with street indexes integrated into them, unlike some guides which rely on sketch maps, and where the scale can be a bit hit and miss. Another advantage is they don;t attempt to list a "Top Ten" for each place, rather they provide comprehensive coverage, and divide their coverage by locale.



3. As always, Eyewitness has the best maps. The coverage of Seville makes it the best guide for that city, period. The coverage of the outlying major areas, such as Granada and Cordoba, should be supplemented with the Cadogan book on Seville, Granada, Cordoba, but the Eyewitness has the best information on eating, shopping, getting around, hotels, and culture survival for Seville. If you are staying in Seville, take this book with you into the streets when you go.



4. My wife and I used this book and Lonely Planet: Spain book for a week in Seville and Cordoba.

   We found it to be excellent for the high-points, or must see's, of the area. The photos are excellent in this book. Also, this book is much smaller and easier to carry than either Lonely Planet's or Eyewitness' guides for the entire country.

   For non-touristy (or less touristy) things, Lonely Planet has much better depth. We found the two books to complement each other nicely.

   By the way, Andalusia is spectacular! Enjoy!

No comments about The Panama Canal conflict Between Great Britain and the United States of America.

3 comments about Let's Go 2007 Spain & Portugal (Let's Go Spain and Portugal).

1. This is the second Let's go buy, it's perfect to use in trips around the world...many traditionals and alternative tips, don't forget yours....



2. Our son last summer toured Europe. He took 3 tour books along on his backpacking vacation. He discarded 2 of the other tour books and only kept-- Let's Go tour books. This summer he will be going to England and Spain and the only book he wanted was this tour book. By the way he is 32 years old and an engineer and wishes to try other countries but again only with Let's Go. REMEMBER Make sure the book is the year that you go.
   
   Enjoy!



3. Like many independent budget travelers, I have usually depended on Lonely Planet guidebooks for advice. But with that company's decision to focus more on a middle-class demographic and leave backpackers behind, I have been exploring other guidebook lines. In preparing for a transit through Spain in the course of hitchhiking from Germany to Senegal, I checked out the 2007 Spain guidebook by Cambridge, MA outfit Let's Go. I was very disappointed.
   
   Some flaws of the guidebook are likely found throughout the Let's Go line. What first offends the reader are the advertisements spread all throughout the book. While looking for travel guidance, one must avoid sales pitches for mobile phones, ISIC cards, and hostel-booking websites. The publisher claims that placement of advertisements is done by a separate agency, and the writers do not endorse or get kickbacks from these companies, but it makes the whole production look amateur and unreliable.
   
   I was hoping that Let's Go might show travelers the new, cheaper ways to travel that have come with the rise of certain Internet communities. Indeed, Let's Go is the only guidebook that mentions hospitality clubs. But here, they inexplicably recommend a hospitablity club that is moribund, GlobalFreeloaders, instead of suggesting the easy combination of HospitalityClub and Couchsurfing. Hitchhiking is getting easier than ever thanks to Internet compendia of tips on places to stand and signs to hold, but Let's Go doesn't mention any of that. In fact, the section on Hitchhiking is several paragraphs of "It's dangerous, don't do it", which at least in the European Union, of which Spain is a part, is irresponsible hyperbole. Lonely Planet, at least, gives a standard boilerplate "We don't recommend hitchhiking" before giving some general local guidance.
   
   The travel direction that Let's Go give seems concerned mainly with boozing instead of any real contact with local culture. Throughout hostels, those impersonal spaces where one only encounters other foreigners, are listed as ideal places to stay in a given community. The company claims that their charter allows them only to employ current Harvard students, which means that the writers are not the sort of "travel as lifestyle" gurus I would prefer to get guidance from, but rather people who undoubtedly visited these places for short-term relaxation.
   
   In terms of matters specific to Spain, I found that the information here is nowhere near as detailed as in the 2007 guidebooks by Lonely Planet and the Rough Guides. Both include information on how to enter Morocco from Algeciras, for example, while the Let's Go does not. While the Canary Islands are covered, Spain's possessions in North Africa are not. All in all, get the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide. Both of those lines are no longer focusing only on the budget travel, but are still more useful for a sincere and curious traveler than Let's Go.

No comments about Costa Del Sol Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

No comments about Francisco Pizarro: Journeys Through Peru and South America (In the Footsteps of Explorers).

No comments about The Basque Country: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination).

1 comments about Insight Guide Spain (Insight Guides Spain).

1. Like all the Insight guides, this is a great guidebook. I love Insight Guides because they offer background on the people and history, the cultures and customs, and lots of wonderful photographs. The sections on specific hotels and restaurants are minimal, which is fine with me because that info is always out of date by the time a guide hits the shelves anyway!

No comments about The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society.

5 comments about Barcelona & Catalonia (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

1. This is a great book for any newcomer to the beautiful city of Barcelona. The images pull you in, and the background history on the Barcelona area is well done. My only gripe is that the "rest of Catalonia" section is quite small for all that's out there! If you're spending a few days in Barcelona, this is the book to buy. If you plan to spend most of your time in the surrounding region, or in the Balearic islands, I'd skip it.



2. This guide is not up to the usual D-K standard. I like to take pictures for photo.net when I travel and it is very helpful to have the little sample photos of destinations so that one can decide whether or not to invest the time.

   But D-K Barcelona is very skimpy on details and also on tourist attractions and facilities as soon as you venture out of the Old City.

   For authoritative restaurant and hotel recommendations, go with Michelin Red. For architecture and art history, get the Blue Guide. For nightlife, try the TimeOut guide. Overall, people say that the Rough Guide is very good.

   Whatever guidebook you choose, watch your belongings in Barcelona. Pickpocketing is an industry there, esp. in the Old City and on La Rambla. Women should not carry purses. Men should keep money in a money belt or zippered inner jacket pocket. Limit yourself to one camera that you can keep in your hands at all times.




3. .
   Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!

   Summary:
   Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

   The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

   The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
   ............Very complete
   ............Easy to read
   ............Beautifully and artistically completed
   ............Good shopping, safety and other tips
   ............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

   Specifics:
   The guides are organized as follows:

   How to use this guide
   Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
   Geographical Regions
   ............Introduction Barcelona and Catalonia
   ........................Intro to Barcelona / Catalonia
   ........................Portrait of Catalonia
   ........................Catalonia Through the Year (events, holidays)
   ........................History of Catalonia

   ............Barcelona Area by Area, each section includes:
   ........................Introduction to street by street area

   ........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
   ........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
   ........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.

   ........................Barcelona At a Glance
   ........................Old Town
   ........................Eixample
   ........................Monjuic
   ........................Further Afield

   ............Catalonia Area by Area
   ........................Llieda, Andorra, Girona, Barcelona Province, Tarragona

   Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
   ............Hotels
   ............Restaurants, cafes, bars
   ............Shopping
   ............Entertainment
   ............Outdoor activities

   Survival Information
   ............Practical
   ........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
   ........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
   ............Travel Information (Getting to Barcelona )

   ............Street Maps (Getting Around Barcelona )

   ............General Index
   ............Catalan Phrase Book
   ............Barcelona Metro and Train Routes (Maps)

   Discussion:
   The book begins with "Introducing Barcelona", including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Barcelona thought the Year - including events, etc.

   Areas with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

   Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

   The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I have used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, in most European cities, and Dorling has yet to disappoint me. I have found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions.

   The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

   Traveling to Barcelona Specifically:
   Do it! I have never been disappointed with Barcelona, its people, its food, or anything at all. It is definitely one of the better European cities to visit, or spend time in. Also, just south of Barcelona is a little town called "Sitges" which is an absolute Mediterranean gem! Gorgeous, friendly, beautiful beaches, and very comfortable to simple visit and relax in!

   Conclusion:
   Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.




4. Usually the Eyewitness series guide for whatever city is an unbeatable guidebook, however this one comes up a little short. It has all the great photos, as always the maps are excellent, the pictures/descriptions of the foods & architecture are very good. It is the same successful formula they use in their series of guidebooks but here they could have expanded some where they condensed. There is nothing in the book about bullfighting, or flamenco; there are 2 pages on Romanesque architecture, 2 pages on Modernism architecture, nothing on Gothic even though Barcelona has one of the most complete Gothic neighborhoods in all of Europe. The first 40 pages are history and introduction, food, flora, art etc.: Only 49 pages on the city sights, 20 pages on the rest of Catalonia. It is as if they rushed to compact everything as they might with somewhere much larger, like New York City. The book could have relaxed and breathed a bit more. The town of Tarragona with its great cathedral and fantastic Roman ruins only gets two columns of ink. There are only 6 pages of detailed maps in the back, Parc Guell is not even on the map.
   If you are going to BCN you should get this book, match it up with National Geographic Traveler Barcelona and the Time Out Guide



5. I've been born in Barcelona and I am an enthusiastic traveller all around the world and a travel guide collector. It is true that the visual standard of the Eyewitness travel Guides is topnotch (oh, that beautiful DK design...), but the lack of really useful information is certainly a problem of these guides. And here, with the Barcelona guide, that problem is even more evident than in others. Yes, it is good for the top visits you need to do during a week-end, but it lacks the necessary info for a long-term stay (that Barcelona is certainly worth) or for a trip to be planned on your own. What about low-budget hotels and restaurants? Not even one. What about information about timetables, trains, buses? Where are they? The Lonely planet / Rough guides may be less lush, but certainly more useful concerning such matters (with good reviews concerning hotels/ restaurants/ services... for all budgets). Not to mention the lack of detailed information about gastronomy/ history/ culture. It is painful.
   
   So, it seems that the Eyewitness travels are aimed to customers with their trip arranged in a circuit... staying about one night or two in Barcelona and who need a minimal information for their stay.