3 comments about Top 10 Andalucia and Costa Del Sol (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE).

1. Those familiar with DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides should already know what to expect from this product--amazing photography, great illustrations, and average written content. It's not that Eyewitness is a poor guide; it simply concentrates more on the visual side of the house and the less on the written than say, Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. This is not really a horrible thing; Eyewitness Guides are my first choice in preparing to go to a country because they a) get you excited about it, b) put you in the proper frame of mind to go there, and c) point out many places, attractions, and events you will want to visit while there. As I stated, the photography is breathtaking, and alone is probably worth the price of the book. Although not all-encompassing, the book's delightful format and ease of reading more than compensate for anything lacking.

   The Top 10 Guide reviewed here is a smaller guide oriented towards providing-what else?-top 10 lists for the traveler venturing to Andalusia or the Costa del Sol. Just some of the lists presented are Great Beaches, Attractions for Children, Cultural Landmarks, Places to Eat, and many, many other (sometimes quirky, always entertaining lists). If you're looking for an inexpensive overview of places you'll want to visit while in this region, the Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide Series is for you.




2. if you don't want to carry a heavy guide book and just want the highlights, this was a fun and helpful book



3. I have taken this book to my travel to Andalucia this spring that included visiting cities such as: Malaga, Marbellas, Estepona, Ronda and San Pedro. Guide is small and easy to carry with quick overviews of cities, places to see, hotels to stay in and restaurants to eat at. If you are in the mood for driving (which is not too difficult), you will find a map in the guide as well. Pictures enclosed in the guide will help you decide places of interest you want to see most. The only thing I regret is not having enough time to visit Granada. Food, people, culture and arciteture are worth taking the trip in spite of the weak dollar. If you are travelling on the budget and have plenty of time, research carefully. You can get anywhere by public transportation which is much less expansive than taking taxi. Most of the group tours would cost you less that dinner for two in a resort hotel. If you are in Malaga, definitely visit the Pablo Picasso museum and the home where he grew up. Most people speak English, so even if you do not speak a word of Spanish, you will be OK.

1 comments about Florence InsideOut (Insideout City Guide: Florence).

1. These "Inside/Out"books are the best for today's travel - small enough to fit in a carry-on and have pop-up maps that show particular areas of travel. Very useful information inside as to what to see in a particular city/place.

No comments about Lonely Planet Barcelona (Lonely Planet. (Spanish Guides)).

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

2 comments about Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees (Cicerone Mountain Walking).

1. Author Kev Reynolds is an experienced walker and climber in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. The book describes some of the most interesting parts of the Pyrenees, and includes some 20 pages of color and black/white photographs.

   For everyone, new or already acustomed to the range, planning to make a day-trip walk or true hike in the Pyrenees this book can be of nice help for finding good ideas what areas to visit and what routes to take. Based on this book the detailed maps can be bought, and the details of the route further discovered.

   For every massif there is a 2 page introduction, followed by route descriptions (usually at around 1 page length, sometimes including a photograph). Usually the routes are for experienced walkers no problem, however overweighted first time walkers can forget to follow the routes.

   From extensive experience with the range, it must be said that Mr. Reynolds pretty well describes the tracks, without to big mistakes. Shure, you still need a French IGN map, or a less good) Spanish Editorial Alpina map, but this book gives a good impression in what to expect.

   The book further includes a short description of the HRP (Haute Route Pyreneenne), a map desciption and a bibliography. Author Kev Reynolds has also written Classic Walks in the Pyrenees (larger sized, with more photograps, describing 24-classic walks) and The Pyrenees.




2. Kev's work seems pretty thorough. I will field test the guide this july.

1 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Lisbon (Wallpaper City Guide).

1. I had seen Wallpaper*'s city guides on display and liked the idea - and had been waiting for the opportunity to buy one. It became Lisbon.
   
   And true, the guide is handy (though unfortunately with a very use-sensitive cover) andbeautifully designed, a delight in typography, layout and photography.
   
   It does however not serve much more than that purpose: A fancy companion only for a few fancy places and therefore deep pockets. So it's fun to try, or cool to have on your coffee table - but not overtly useful as an actual guidebook.

1 comments about Insight Guides Southern Spain: Costa Del Sol, Andalucia (Insight Guides).

1. This was a great guide for a recent trip to Spain; both I and my young daughter thouroughly enjoyed looking through the photos...sometimes when I couldn't find the book, I'd look in her room and she'd have fallen asleep with it in her hands--no doubt dreaming of adventures to come! The info within is limited to Andalucia, so be aware of this if your travels take you beyond the borders of Southern Spain.

No comments about Cool Restaurants Madrid (Cool Restaurants).

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

4 comments about Grammar Lessons: Translating a Life in Spain (Sightline Books).

1. Not since Tobias Wolffe's This Boy's Life have I been so moved by a work of nonfiction. Ms. Morano's economical prose, keenly observed detail and emotional honesty are a triple-threat. The essays work that magic of translating what your imagination conjures into an experience which you feel is now a genuine memory, something about which you and she have secret and sacred understanding. Everyone who has had their heart broken by their crazy boyfriend while travelling through Spain should read this book, and then everyone else should too, because after a glass of madeira or a cup of cafe con leche your mind might trick you into reminiscing about that year in Spain when your crazy boyfriend ...



2. The book was delivered before the estimated delivery date. The book was in the stated condition- good.



3. I loved every essay in this book. Beautifully written. Insightful. Entertaining. Thought provoking. Brilliant but never pretentious.



4. In Grammar Lessons, Michele Morano takes the reader on an unforgettable journey, a treat to the senses. She invites us to explore her thoughts and feelings as she experiences daily life in Spain in the early 1990's, while teaching English at the University of Oviedo for a year. While in Oviedo, she enrolled in a Spanish language course for foreigners or "extranjeros."
   
   In thirteen personal essays, Morano captures the reader's heart with her descriptive and poetic style. Her themes evoke a feeling of familiarity, for her stories are organized around topics such as food, travel, and solitude versus loneliness. "I'm hungry in both body and spirit," she writes. "I crave not just a meal, not just the take-out supper I can carry to the emptiness of my room, but a complete dining experience." One pressing issue during the year in Spain was her longing for the man she left behind in New York.
   
   Morano prefaces her book by explaining that grammar is not simply words strung together to form sentences, but the mannerisms, gestures, and ways of life that accompany language. The book is organized into three parts. The essays in Part One reveal her struggle to learn the Spanish language while living the culture. The essays in Part Two revolve around her later trips to Spain. Part Three reflects her attitude toward travel along highways and how it shapes the individual. Morano's sentiments about travel and saying farewell to relationships are reflected in these lines:
   
   "If you move about in the world, if you live fully and fall in love--with friends, acquaintances, and places and periods of time, your heart is going to break again and again. Each time you say good-bye, you'll feel the ache of impermanence, of inevitability, of your own finite days."
   
   I connected with this book because I would have benefitted greatly from studying in foreign lands while I was studying Spanish as my college major. However, overseas travel and study programs were not as prevalent in the late 70's or early 80's as they are now. I have since made many excursions to Mexico and Spain, although at this point in my life I live vicariously as an eager armchair traveler. I comfortably travel to many faraway places through others' spoken and written accounts.
   
   As I read Grammar Lessons, Morano took me on a vivid tour of her daily discoveries of cultural life and relationships in Spain. The pages held me spellbound, and I wished the journey did not have to end.
   
   by Sharon Blumberg
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
   reviewing books by, for, and about women