No comments about The Rough Guides' Lanzarote Directions (Rough Guide Directions).

2 comments about Wallpaper City Guide Valencia (Wallpaper City Guides) (Wallpaper City Guides (Phaidon Press)).

1. very small travel guide for an overview of the city. great large pictures with limited text. great for a quick summary but not in depth.



2. I used this book quite a bit, finding the right hotel, restaurants, and must see destinations durning my trip to Valencia. I used this book in conjunction with the Footprint Pocket Guide and they worked really great together, Wallpaper is the cooler book while there is a bit more information in the Footprint guide.
   
   Amazing city to visit and these books both really help.Valencia, 2nd (Footprint - Pocket Guides)

1 comments about Spain in Mind.

1. The best travel writing makes you want to pack your bags and leave on the first transport out. Spain in Mind is no exception.
   
   Editor Alice Leccese Powers takes us on a tour of Spain through the eyes of writers we might expect, like Ernest Hemingway, and some not usually associated with Spain, like Barbara Kingsolver. There are surprises like Henry James' wry sense of humor and rugged approach to travel. There are delights like the poems of Robert Graves and Wordsworth. There is even a curiosity, Favell Lee Mortimer, a 19th century Englishwoman who managed to pass judgment on many countries without ever setting foot in them. Her take on Spain is amusing in its oddness, but doesn't add much to the reader's understanding of Spain or the Spanish. Fortunately, most of Powers' choices are much more interesting and provide the reader with unique takes on Spain in the last two centuries.
   
   There are also some laugh out loud passages from this reviewer's favorite travel genre--the "I moved there, bought a rundown house/hotel/farm and spent every penny I had/didn't have on restoring/bringing up to code the house/barn/studio with the assistance of every generous/larcenous/clueless local workman in the small town without a road" story. The best of these combine a love of the land and its people with a strong dose of humor about one's own foibles and innocence in the face of the challenge. In fact, the best of all travel writing consists of a love of learning about a new land, its people and customs, and the humility that distinguishes the traveler bent on knowing a foreign land and not too proud to make a few mistakes.
   
   Many of these writers would make fascinating travel companions, and a collection like this launches the imagination and provides the reader with new sources of information, humor, intrigue, and insight--more to read and discover about places we have been, places we're going, and places we only dream about seeing.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: If you want to discover a breadth of fascinating writing about Spain, dive into this volume and be prepared to want more.

3 comments about Working and Living: Portugal (Working & Living - Cadogan).

1. This book starts with a very readable introduction and gradually leads you in from 'first steps' through to permits, banking, taxes, you name it. It goes as far as getting Portuguese nationality. Like other books, it has 'profiles' of the different regions in the country, but in a good balance with other (and more relevant) information you seek in this kind of book. Information on actually living and working in the country is very practical and the references for further reading are good. As the icing on the cake, the book includes topics like etiquette. This is not the first book I bought but is by far superior to my first attempt. I did not know about this book at the time. I hope others can benefit from my trial and error route and go straight to a good buy.



2. This is a very practical guide to planning a move to Portugal, delving deep into details about Portuguese life, work ethic, extracurricular hobbies, economic logistics, etc. My only criticism is that the author only very timidly broaches the issue that you can't very readily make a decent living wage in Portugal. This is much more upfront in almost ALL of the case study interviews- where they recommend getting a UK-based job with UK salary rate vs. picking up a Portuguese job.



3. This is not the most complete book on living and working in Portugal but deserves full marks for what it is, a very clear and concise guide. It was my first read on the matter and gave me an excellent starting point. Specially good are the chapters Portugal Today and Living in Portugal. I strongly recommend it to anyone at the initial stages of considering a move to Portugal.

No comments about A Traveller's Wine Guide to Spain (Traveller's Wine Guides).

No comments about Catalonia: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination).

1 comments about Globetrotter Islands Madeira (Globetrotter Islands: Madeira).

1. This book is wonderful! It is packed with spectacular pictures and the quality of the paper is very good, so the pictures are vibrant in the colors. This book makes me want to jump on the next plane to Madeira! Can't wait to visit!

5 comments about A Cottage in Portugal.

1. After having found "A year in Provence" one of the most addictive books I ever read, and having been born and raised in Portugal, I just had to order this book. I give it three stars for the story telling skills and overall pleasant writing style of the author. However, (and I may be biased) I suspect the author may have gone overboard with his assessment of the local culture, describing appalling characters with tiresome and patronizing regularity. Although I have experienced my share of bureaucratic frustrations in Portugal, he was either incredibly unlucky or let his imagination fill in the blanks to make for a more interesting read. Either way, it worked: I enjoyed the book. The beautiful ink drawings are icing on the cake.



2. This is the story of the first few months in Portugal of Mr. Hewitt, an american who came to Portugal with his wife to live in a small village near Sintra. The descriptions of his deals with the various departments of the portuguese burocracy are definitely hilarious, and sound absolutely true. Although written about events that took place in 1985-6, most of the picture one gets rings true even today. A funny book.



3. I'm "giving" only 4 stars to this book, because I think that the details about the Portuguese Public Services are a bit exagerated sometimes. But Richard and Barbara got the "portuguese spirit" allright... Also the way they describe Sintra (such a special environment), it's very much true. Wait untill you read "A cottage in Portugal II"...



4. HELLO! IAM READ THIS BOOK AND EVERYTHING IS TRUE. BUT THE EXAMPLES ARE NOT ONLY THE BUREAUCRACY:
   EVERYBODY ARE THE SAME. SO, PLEASE, IF YOU WILL GO TO PORTUGAL TO A TRIP ON HOLIDAYS, OK: THE CLIMATE, FOOD AND THE CLICHES.
   BUT IF YOU LIVE A PERIOD OF TIME, PLEASE: NEVER, NEVER DO BUSINESS! PEOPLE DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK, REALLY. READ THE BOOK AGAIN AND TRANSFER THE EXAMPLES (BUREAUCRACY, HIS EMPLOYES ON THE HOUSE, ETC.) FOR EVERYBODY: BUSINESSMAN, SHOPS, INDUSTRIES, RICHS, POORS: IT'S ALL THE SAME, DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK, ARE RUDE, TREAT YOU "DRY", ONLY SPEAK ABOUT SOCCER (AND THEY ARE A LOOSERS AND HAVE ZILLIONS OF EXCUSES FOR THAT) AND YOU WILL LOST YOUR TIME, HEALTH AND MONEY. RUN! PLEASE.
   PS: AND THIS BOOK IS ONLY A RESUME, BECAUSE ARE MORE AND MORE BAD SITUATIONS THAT YOU COULDN'T IMAGINE. DON'T DO BUSINESS IN PORTUGAL, DON'T WORK, DON'T BELIEVE IN "SMILES": RUN NOW!



5. I loved this book, but I may be biased because I love Portugal and want to live near Sintra, where this story takes place. It's very amusing... chuckles all the way, with an occasional guffaw.

1 comments about Global Access Spanish: Deluxe Language Course (Global Access).

1. I am an advanced Spanish student who has a library of books, a Rosetta membership, etc. with regard to learning Spanish. I have also traveled to Central America to practice the language and my husband is fluent.
   
   My biggest problem is that I feel a little intimidated to interact in spanish because my listening skills are not perfect and my brain takes longer than I am comfortable with to come up with the Spanish I would like to speak. I just got this course yesterday and listened to it for an hour in the car. I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of topics covered. I guess for a traditional spanish student, you tend to learn grammar, vocab, etc. and you don't focus on one-shot spanish courses like "travel spanish."
   
   This course actually starts with travel spanish in mind, and even though I started on the basic lessons it is more advanced than I expected in that many different verb tenses are used right from the get-go. What a great way to hear those tenses used with many things the advanced learner would already be familiar with - so you can really focus on the tenses and at the same time get a great review of words you may not have completely committed to memory. The only parts I have skipped so far were those covering numbers, and skipping is easy to do because each short lesson is a track on your CD.
   
   Also the kit comes with vocab flashcards. They are not as basic as you might expect. Sure, the majority is made up of words like train, tree and yesterday, but also you will find ones for ankle, gloomy, crowd, etc.
   
   Since I just got this yesterday, I will come back and add more if my opinion changes. I am very pleased so far and I look forward to my next 1 hour in the car tonight!

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