No comments about Trekking and Climbing in Northern Spain (Trekking & Climbing Series).

1 comments about Fodor's Seville, Granada & Andalusia, 1st Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. This book was our second most used travel guide (of 3) during our recent trip to Portugal and Andalucia. Our favorite was Time Out (a relative judgment.) Fodor's gave a competent appraisal of the relevant tourist attractions- hardly a difficult task in Southern Spain (1. go to cathedral 2. go to bull ring 3. go to castle.) The restaurant recommendations were mostly useless- very dowdy and focused on traditional options. My thought is that Fodor's is focsued on an older crowd (wife and I are in low 30's.) I wouldn't recommend Fodor's, even though the specifity of a Andalucia focused guidebooks makes it superior to the Michelin Spain guide.

No comments about Homage to Barcelona (Penguin travel library).

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)

3 comments about The Life and Death of a Spanish Town.

1. When this autobiographical account was published in the late 30's it was an immediate sensation. Though Elliot Paul is pretty well forgotten today, he was the author of many best sellers. The Life and Death of a Spanish Town is generally regarded as his masterpiece. In this all but forgotten book Paul describes the destruction of the idyllic life he led on the Ballearic Island of Ibiza by the Fascists, both Italian and Spanish, who struck out against the Spanish Republic in 1936. It has long been considered one of the classics of the Spanish Civil War.



2. When this autobiographical account was published in the late 30's it was an immediate sensation. Though Elliot Paul is pretty well forgotten today, he was the author of many best sellers. The Life and Death of a Spanish Town is generally regarded as his masterpiece. In this all but forgotten book Paul describes the destruction of the idyllic life he led on the Ballearic Island of Ibiza by the Fascists, both Italian and Spanish, who struck out against the Spanish Republic in 1936. It has long been considered one of the classics of the Spanish Civil War.



3. The Spanish town of the title is Santa Eulalia Del Rio, known to its inhabitants simply as Santa Eulalia. Elliot (correct spelling) Paul made Santa Eulalia, a small fishing village on the Spanish island of Ibiza, his home from 1931 to 1936. He did not live there as an outsider, but rather as an accepted and loved member of the community.

   During Paul's first few years on Ibiza, life seemed idyllic. Most of his friends and neighbors were simple, somewhat naive, generally kind people who ranged from those who struggled to eke out a living to those comfortably well off. If the rich preferred to stay that way and weren't too anxious to share the wealth, so be it. If the Communists thought the wealth should be spread around, that seemed to be normal for your everyday Communist. If the Republicans liked the old style government and the Fascists thought that they should be in control, as long as it was just a thought, it didn't hurt anyone, did it? In spite of these conflicting agendas, all seemed well and no one thought that the problems on the mainland would spill over to their little island.

   Paul brings Santa Eulalia to life. He introduces us to the leading citizens in each walk of life, and invests them with real personalities. No wooden characters here. Paul's genius is in making us feel that we know everyone and that we are participants in the life of Santa Eulalia.

   He immerses himself deeply into the life of the village, and, it is my opinion that if not for the hostilities of the Spanish Civil war, Paul and his family would never have left Santa Eulalia. As it was, they waited until the last possible minute to escape, fleeing to the last neutral ship to dock in the harbor minutes before it left. At the time he wrote this book, Paul was still suffering from feelings of guilt over having survived when so many of his friends didn't.

   With the coming of the Spanish Civil War, Ibiza was alternately ruled by Fascists, Loyalists, Communists, and whatever other ist's could wrest control. Each successive change of power was accompanied by new oppressions, imprisonments and executions. The true victims of all of this were the innocent majority who naively believed that they could continue their old ways of life no matter who was in power.

   The day after Paul and his family made their escape there was an invasion by Italian Fascist troops. Within a few hours these troops herded most of the remaining males into a town square and machine gunned them. The Italians didn't care whose side the men were on, they considered all of the islanders to be a threat and thus executed all the males they could find, no questions asked. A day or two later, Spanish government planes bombarded Santa Eulalia, destroying nearly every home in the village. At the time of the publication of this book in 1937, Paul was still unable to determine the fate of any of his friends.

   THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SPANISH TOWN brings a community to life, presents its inhabitants as real living people, and eventually brings home the horror of war through the deaths of innocent people with real names, families, and feelings. An out of print book that merits reprinting.

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!

1 comments about French Pyrenees.

1. If you can find this book, buy it. I went to the Western Pyrennees a few years ago and used it as my guide book. Sturrock blends in the history of the complete Pyrennees with superb descriptions of many of the small romantic towns throughout this region. I loved the book so much that I went on line to find anything he had written. I can not wait to go back and travel the Eastern Pyrennees along with Sturrock's book again. All travel guides should be this good. Alas !!!

No comments about Michelin Green Guide: Pyrenees Languedoc Tarn Gorges (Green Tourist Guides).

No comments about Venice InsideOut (Insideout City Guide: Venice).

2 comments about The Rough Guide to Spain (10th Edition).

1. I just came back from a 2-week vacation in Spain and let me tell you - this guide was well worth the money. After comparing it to all other guides on Spain I could find in stores, I decided to buy this one, because it seemed to have the most information. One guide that came close in that respect was 'The Illustrated Guide to Spain' - I already own 2 books from the 'Illustrated Guide' series and originally thought about sticking to it - but it's too picture-heavy, which in my opinion is a distraction.
   Boy, was I glad to have had chosen 'The Rough Guide'. Here are the reasons:
   1. It has detailed information about all cities/places of interest in each of Spain's regions, incl. getting there, and accomodation choices - especially valuale is the budget accomodation info, which most guides don't have
   2. It provides historical background on all sites that are worth seeing
   3. The city maps with highlights on hotels and restaurants were quite valuable while visiting small towns that did not have a tourist office.
   4. The menu dictionary was also very helpful, because in certain regions there aren't very many non-Spanish tourists and the waiters don't understand another language and may not give you a non-Spanish menu.
   5. I also found the contexts/appendixes to be a very nice surprise - no visit to another coutry is complete w/o gaining at least a bit of knowledge of its history and culture, and the guide's content was excellent in that respect as well. Also, the mini-dictionary which is in one of the appendixes was very helpful as I went to Spain w/o any knowledge of the language.
   6. The guides on eating and drinking were also quite valuable, as each region of Spain has it's own 'indigenous' food and vines.
   7. Finally, I liked the layout of the guide - some guides will throw in huge fonts to try to fill in 200-300 pages - this one did not make that mistake.

   It is true that the guide is voluminous (1000+ pages) and won't fit into your pocket. But if you want a guide that will tell you the most about Spain, this is the book. I went to that country impromptu - w/o reservation in most cities I was planning to visit and not knowing the language (not a good idea) - and still head a smooth trip around the country and great time.




2. Here's why

   1. Has tons of information on Spain, above and beyond the other guides - culture, history, architecture, cinema, you name it.
   2. Not too many illustrations/pictures to distract you.
   3. Maps of hotels/hostels and restaurants.
   4. Detailed information even on remote/small towns.
   5. The dictionary appendix is very helpful if you don't know Spanish (not many Spaniards know or even understand English/other languages, especially in areas that see few international tourists).
   6. Precious info on finding budget accomodation if your budget is tight or you just arrived w/o a reservation.

   This is not a guide that you can stick in your pocket - it's 1000+ pages after all! But the sheer wealth of information makes it well worth the money. A few days ago I came back from a 2-week vacation in Spain - went there w/o any knowledge of Spanish and w/o reservation in most cities i visited - just improptu decided to visit the country, although I would not recommend doing that. The guide saved my vacation, and then made it a great one. This is the first book from the 'Rough Guide' series I've ever bought - if the rest are as good as this one, I won't even look at the other guides out there..