No comments about Barcelona Pocket Map and Guide (Eyewitness Pocket Maps & Guides).

No comments about Moleskine City Notebook Lisboa (Lisbon) (Moleskine City Notebook).

No comments about Foreigners in Spain: Triumphs & Disasters.

5 comments about Roads to Santiago.

1. Very interesting view of selected Spanish history and culture. Superbly written. I have been reading lots of books from Spain and about Spain in the last 10 years, but this is certainly one of the best.



2. Spain becomes grist for the cracked mill wheel of Cees Nooteboom's mind. The book isn't really about Spain, it's about the author and his obsessive fixation with certain Spanish topics. He does this with painfully long rambling descriptions of various Spanish cultural icons that have caught his attention, drilling down to the time when they first caught his attention and the many times since then that he has pondered them. The topics themselves are interesting but almost irrelevant to the self indulgent dredging of the author's own mind. You would learn more hard facts about these topics from a museum brochure. The twin pillars of this tortuously slow moving narrative are the painter Zurban and Romanesque architecture. He drops and picks up these topics at random, throughout the book, and prattles on about them as if he is possessed with a reoccurring fever. He also slathers his book with an impressive amount of trite clichés about Spain, Spain the land of contrasts, Castille La Mancha the land of desolate panoramas, etc. He goes on ad nauseum. He also plays a little fast and loose with the few historical facts he deigns to use. He states that the aqueduct in Segovia was used until 1974; according to Segovia's municipal web site it is still in use. He states that Pizzaro left from Extremadura with an invasion force for Peru; Pizzaro left from Central America where he had been established for some years. Obviously no fact checker touched this book before publication. There are many wonderful books about Spain. This isn't one of them.



3. Am still trying to finish this book! Compared to some of the others on the subject, it's a hard read. I'll probably sell it.



4. first of all, cees nooteboom is a shining oasis in the arid intellectual desert of contemporary travel writing, and secondly, you should let go of everything that makes you unhappy, and set sail tomorrow.

   the sheer profundity and wit of nooteboom's observations left me, for one, in like total dumbstruck awe, and his seemingly divine ability to translate the most visceral of emotions into words (a medium of communication i had always, up till now, considered inferior) made me feel a little bit the same way i felt the first time i went skydiving. folks, this here is a man who knows how to travel, as well as being a freakin miracle of a writer--and anyone who is capable of firing a sincere philosophic-type synapse will LOVE HIM. also read "the following story," all you existential types out there--he's like a dreamy, colorful Camus, and his prose will make your eyes feel clean for the first time in years.




5. This is a spectacular book, written by the best kind of travel writer. Mr. Nooteboom's passion for Spain, Spanish art, and Spanish architecture is infectious. I did the pilgrimage to Santiago in September of 2003, and understanding the Camino in the larger context of Spanish history (which Mr. Nooteboom limns so admirably) was invaluable. I don't believe I would have looked for, much less appreciated the Romanesque architecture I saw along the way. Coincidentally, his love of the great Spanish painters Zurbaran and Velazquez inspired me to visit New York for the Velazquez to Manet exhibit. I consider this one of the essential books to read before you set out for Santiago de Compostela. Guide books will get you from A to B. This book will help you understand the importance of A, B, and all the points in between.

1 comments about AAA Spiral Guide: Portugal.

1. My wife and I bought this book prior to a trip to Portugal. The book gave us really great information on the history, major sights and attractions during our drive through the country broken up into very organized sections (by region). It also gave very useful information on rules of the road, emergency numbers and even a road map. Where we think the book fell a little short was in lodging info. Use it as a guide only, because often the listed lodgings were not numerous enough in this book to be useful. A quick Google yields more lodging info, or even a chat with a concierge or a local travel agent or the local welcome center (in Fatima for example). We basically went with the wind and booked lodging on the fly based on local information and recommendations rather than this book (we were glad we did). Our suggestion, rent a GPS with your rental car, pack this book, get a real road map and ask the locals for recommendations, and do some Googling before you go. Great guide book to have with you though. Enjoy your trip!

No comments about Frommer's Spain's Best-Loved Driving Tours: 25 Unforgettable Itineraries (5th Ed).

2 comments about Karen Brown's Portugal: Charming Inns & Itineraries 2000 (Karen Brown's Portugal).

1. After digesting several other books on Portugal I received Karen Brown's book. Had I received her book first, I could have saved a lot of money and time because no other book comes anywhere close to providing the information and interest in visiting the places that she writes about. I cannot wait to read her other books. Wanted to have a vehicle there but was disuaded by the other publications. However, after reading her book I am anxious to rent a vehicle and visit all the wonderful adventures that she has written about. Sorry to say we only have 16 days this time, but rest assured we will return to finish the books descriptions of all the wonderful places. The web sites and phone numbers provided are extremely helpful; even moreso that the information provided by the state run tourism office. The encouragement to explore is there. Thanks once again for a wonderfully written guide book.



2. I used this book side-by-side with my Frommer's Portugal and found it to be a great complement. It excels at finding wonderful accommodations across the ENTIRE country. (My Frommer's book, I found, included only the most popular tourist spots, largely ignoring the Douro Valley, for example, which every traveler should see.) Each of the places we stayed was unique and spectacular, and many of them were not included in other travel guides. The regional itineraries were also very useful. While we didn't follow any of them to the letter but rather picked and choosed to suit our travel plans, the book pointed out lots of special points of interest, again not always mentioned in my Frommer's book. (Were it not for these itineraries, we undoubtedly would have missed seeing the medieval castle at Marvao, a highlight of our trip.)

   For in-depth coverage of all of the regions of Portugal and lodging recommendations you can trust, this book is it.

   This was my first time buying a Karen Brown guide, and it certainly won't be my last.

4 comments about To the Heart of Spain: Food and Wine Adventures Beyond the Pyrenees.

1. _To the Heart of Spain_ is an excellent book, one written for real lovers of Spain. I think it might also encourage those who don't know Spain to visit it with an open and even positive mind-set. Americans, for some reason, often arrive in Spain with a somewhat negative attitude and then wonder why they don't enjoy their trip. The Walkers' book doesn't overwhelm you with guidebook-chatter, but is an unpretentiously personal and warm introduction to some of the charms of this most interesting of places.

   I am a Spanish-English translator and I spend as much time as I can every year in Spain. I have traveled over the entire peninsula, since I can never decide which part of Spain I like best. When I read the Walkers' book, I felt I had met kindred spirits, people totally enamored of Spain, the land, its history, its food and its always unpredictable people.

   You will enjoy the good, down-to-earth accounts of places they ate, stayed, drove, visited, etc. and of the many fine wines and meals they worked their way through in the process (what suffering!). There are also a number of really excellent recipes in the back of the book. They are authentic but have been extremely well adapted for American ingredients and cooking practices.

   The Walkers are very knowledgeable about wines and give you fascinating little tips and sidelights on Spanish wine production. Even if your travel plans go no further than a trip to the liquor store, you'll find the book to be a useful guide to the still relatively new territory of Spanish wine.

   All told, this is one of the most enjoyable travel/food books I have read in recent years, and it was a particular treat to read such a good book about my favorite place.




2. This book was nothing special. It had some interesting things but it wasn't anything excellent



3. This is not a typical guidebook with lists of where-tos and what-tos. The first 2/3 of the book is a gastronomic pilgrimage circling Spain. Ann and Larry don't attempt for example, to list every good restaurant and wine in Galicia. Instead there's a wonderful story about a quest to find the perfect Albarino (a local white wine grape)and the meals along the way. Somehow the story explains more about the nature of Celtic Spain than any other guidebook I've read. What was especially appealing is that Ann and Larry are not simply searching for the best restaurants or the greatest wine lists; rather their search is for the best of what the region grows. This is a major difference from a book structured on ranking establishments on some sort of scale that could be used in Toledo OH or in Toledo ES. What I want to see is Spain, and I think this book gave our trip a jumpstart.



4. Using mostly descriptions (and a few of the recipes) from this book, I gave a very successful tapas/wine tasting party. Fortunately, the local liquor store had a number of wines from the bodegas mentioned in the book, and we had a blast comparing different grapes and regions. I also got one of the whites the book particularly recommends, and it was delicious. The food was probably the most unusual I have ever served at a party, and people got very excited about it. A very useful book!

No comments about Mallorca (Eyewitness Travel Guides).

2 comments about The Rough Guide to Mallorca Map (Rough Guide Country/Region Map).

1. My constant companion for our tour of the interior of Mallorca. Invaluable detail for choosing which backroads, short cuts and walks to take. Durable and with a decent amount of overlap of the content on opposite sides of the map, it's easy to use.



2. Considering that the scale of this map is something like 1.3 inches to the mile, and it shows individual buildings outside of "urban" areas, it's very unlikely that you'll feel lost for even a second.
   The surprising thing is how quickly you get to places. It's also durable.
   Fabulous, it was a real help in making our 6 days on Mallorca a blast.