No comments about Lonely Planet Portugal (Lonely Planet Portugal (Spanish)).

3 comments about Northern Spain, 5th (Country & Regional Guides - Cadogan).

1. After much search for a book on Northern Spain. I believe this Cardogan guide to be one of the better ones. It does provide some essentials: overview and history of Spain's northern regions, culture, cuisine and travel highlights. Also good recommendations on where to stay and have a friendly drink with the locals.

   A few drawbacks: lack of comprehensive maps of regions in relation to Spain as a country and more specific maps of towns that you may want to visit.

   All in all this is the best guide I've found available to get you started and excited about your trip as well as help you focus your travels to a particular area in Northern Spain if time is a concern.




2. Facaros and Pauls are erudite people, who unfortunately do not always understand the delicate balance between good depth of knowledge, and useless obscure references. Furthermore, they made a few mistakes, and a subtle anti-Catholocism was evident in their writing (i.e. by not mentioing that Covadonga is a pilgrammage destination where a virgin's apparition occurred, and that the Oviedo's cathedral hosts the suderio santo, the rag Jesus wore while on his way to the Crucifixion). We sometimes doubted that the authors had actually visited the places described within, or if so, they they did not understand the guides! While not the best for logistics, this guide does offer the best quantity of history per page.



3. The collaborative effort of Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, Northern Spain is a detailed, comprehensive, portable, and "user friendly" travel guide to medieval villages, churches, cathedrals, legends, coastline, art collections, museums and so much more to be found in beautiful northern reaches of Spain. Offering 400 hand-picked lodgings, 300 recommended restaurants, as well as numerous bars and cafes, thirty maps, Spanish language tips, solid travel advice, and more, Northern Spain is an excellent consultation resource for vacationers and business travelers alike. Also very highly recommended for travelers in Spain are the regionally specialized companion guidebooks by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls: Andalucia and Bilbao & The Basque Lands.

No comments about Frommer's The Algarve With Your Family: The Best of Portugals Southern Coast (Frommer's With Kids).

5 comments about A Traveller's History of Spain.

1. This is neither a good history text nor helpful in any way to the traveller.



2. While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience for over-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Some remarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reaches its zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period, while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion on Gonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in a history book. I cannot recommend this book.



3. While shallow enough for those like me who have little patience for over-scrupulous books, it is strikingly biassed and opinionated. Some remarks about historic figures are blatantly subjective, and bias reaches its zenith when the author goes to great length criticising the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. As a Spaniard who has lived that period, while I acknowledge the right of the author to hold an opinion on Gonzalez's period in office, his comments go way beyond admissibility in a history book. I cannot recommend this book.



4. Having read several other Traveller's History books (Turkey, China, Greece) and enjoyed them, I expected much more than I got from this book. The author makes no connections and assumes the reader already knows a lot about Spanish history, in which case, why read this one? I was particularly turned off by the author's terrible punctuation and sentences that went on for 10 lines. Doesn't anyone edit anymore? Wish I had read the other reviews before buying this book. Someone planning a trip to Spain should read James Michner's Iberia instead Ñ not as much history, perhaps, but a lot more understanding of the country and what shaped it.



5. A word of caution: this book is not in any way a pleasure to read. I tried several times to slug through it but maybe got as far page 60-something. I don't want to dwell on how scattered this book was. I'm still looking for that great book about Spanish history - or at least a comfortable overview. As for the title, "A Traveller's History of Spain" who is the traveller, is it supposed to be the 'reader' or the 'author'? If it is the latter, it must have been a book meant for him because I couldn't follow along. This book is arduous.

3 comments about Knopf Guide: Seville And Andalusia (Knopf Guides Seville and Andalusia).

1. This Knopf guide provides the type of information a devoted reader of National Geographic would appreciate - Andalucia is discussed in a historical, political, anthropological, linguistic, and psycho-social context. Beautiful pictures, maps, and illustrations. It also includes a glossary, hotel & restaurant guide, museum schedules, train/airplane schedules and other tips. In short, this is the definitive travel guide and it doesn't compromise on a single point. Someone with some real intelligence pieced together a masterpiece .



2. If you like a travel guide that provides interesting and practical information in an attractive, clear and concise manner, then look no further. Information may contain historical, anthropological, political, cultural, and linguistic references. Indices contain hotel, restaurant, and transportation guides by city. No detail has been missed. Overall a real gem of a book.



3. A gorgeous book. Lots of pictures/drawings/photos, all good quality and interesting. This book is for looking at as much as reading, and it is very well done.

   If you are going to Seville take the Eyewitness Travel Guide and this Knopf guide. Both books are very good, both colourful and easy to carrry. The Eyewitness guide has better maps, more organized information on hotels and restaurants. The Knopf guide is better on background, culture, architecture, flora and fauna, traditions and way of life. The Knopf guide also has a section, "Seville as seen by painters", and a section "Seville as seen by writers".

   I would say the Eyewitness guide is more practical, the Knopf guide more romantic, both very important. You will not be disappointed that you got this book. If you are an armchair traveler, this is definitely a good book.

No comments about Madrid (Blue Guides).

1 comments about Streetwise Spain Map - Laminated Country Road Map of Spain - Folding pocket size travel map (Streetwise (Streetwise Maps)).

1. I did not think this map had any pratical value whatsoever. It is a map of all of Spain that is on hard, coated paper and folds to fit in your pocket. Now a city map of this style might be very helpful for a visitor to the city. I just could not see the value of a durable country map that fits in my pocket.

No comments about Between History and Romance: Travel Writing on Spain in the Early Nineteenth-Century United States.

1 comments about Travellers Madeira, 3rd: Guides to destinations worldwide (Travellers - Thomas Cook).

1. Though there are many travel guides of many destinations, finding a good one about Madeira has been a challenge. Too often the island is relegated to, at most, a chapter or a page or two in a guide to Portugal. Having exchanged a week's time-share in Mexico for a week in Madeira, I was eager to find a more in-depth, up-to-date guide. This seems to fill the bill! I was delighted to find it.

No comments about Barcelona Complete Residents' Guide.