1 comments about Michelin Green Guide Espana (Michelin Green Tourist Guides (Japanese)).

1. I've only visited Madrid, so I'll forcus my comments on that part of the book. The explanations are short and to the point but manage to cover up all the major sight seeing. The restaurant recoomendations are especially good, and in a country where you don't speak the language, and they don't speak yours, it's nice to find a place that has authentic local food on one hand and an English menu on the other hand...

No comments about Costa del Sol Lifeline.

No comments about Small Hotels & Inns of Eastern Spain: Charming Places to Visit in Valencia, Murcia & Teruel.

1 comments about Morocco Handbook: With Mauritania (Footprint Handbooks Series).

1. Anne & Keith McLachlan have covered just every possible track and hamlet with the wide open eyes of the first world tourist. If there is a bus or lorry going from one remote place to another, they mention it, plus the condition of the track, the lodging, the food and what have you. They not only give thourough info on history, geology, politics and social structure, but also on how to handle harassing 'guides'and others. This book is in my opinion the best so far. I've been in Morocco twice now and this book beats the guide by The Lonely Planet, The Rough Guide and the French: Maroc, edition Gallimard. However, if you prefer beautiful photo's, this book is not the one. In that case the French guide beats them all.

1 comments about The Early Spanish Main.

1. This is the definitive English language compilation of the most significant spanish documents relating the first years of the conquest of the Caribbean and Tierra Firme. A tragic account given to us first hand by the chroniclers and put into context by Carl Sauer, one of the experts on the topic. An anthological book.

No comments about Frommer's Comprehensive Travel Guide: Barcelona '93-'94 : With Majorca, Minorca & Ibiza (Frommer's Barcelona, Madrid and Seville).

No comments about Inland Trips from the Costa Blanca: Discover a Countryside of Stunning Scenery and Timeless Pueblos (Santana Guides).

4 comments about Buying a Property in Portugal.

1. This book takes you through the different regions of Portugal, their places of interest, food, life style and types of property. It does so in an easy-to-read, chatty way. The author travels with her husband. 'My husband and I' are often mentioned. They do a three-week train journey in northern Portugal and are invited to the Portwine Institute in Lisbon. The personal touch extends to socialising with the locals and expats.
   How to go about buying property is explained, but advice can be a bit basic. Some is just common sense, like to find your property you look for it in local newspapers or the Sunday Times property supplement for places abroad. There are vocabulary lists with Portuguese words. On page 87 there is an overview of the purchasing process. This is useful, but it can also be found in other books. The thing is that we are spoilt for choice with so many books coming out on buying property and living in Portugal, some very good indeed.



2. This book says the same as others on property buying in Portugal (less than most) but wants to look better than any other. It boasts a lot, unfortunately it boasts a knowledge it has not got. What I find most irritating is the way it uses, misuses, Portuguese cultural items and expressions in a completely misleading way. One example is the Ze Povinho, given as a title in the book. This is translated as Joe Public and left unexplained but serves as title for a section where you are told that the Portuguese like foreigners who speak their language (not surprising!), that they can be officious and intransigent but (contradiction!) are proud of their tolerance, etc etc.
   
   This is all a great mixup and Ze Povinho is not Joe Public. Ze Povinho is the creation of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, a Portuguese who lived in 1846-1905. He was a caricaturist and a ceramist and created several grotesque, comic figures as a means of criticising the Portuguese society of his time. Ze Povinho is one of these figures. It was a satire at the Portuguese people in a period of international political problems.
   
   I lived in Portugal quite a number of years and got to know the country and the people quite well. I feel strongly about the misunderstandings that books like this one spread about such a friendly people.



3. I got to know this book through an American friend who is planning to live in Portugal. My first reaction was trying to forget the book all together but on reflection I think that something must be said.
   
   It starts on the first pages. The acknowledgment lists several names but not the names of the Portuguese people and organizations that provided the information used in the book. They did so in good faith and that information has been used in a book that slags them off. You do not get to the end of a chapter without reading (and again and again) that the Portuguese are "slow". This is one of the many cliches the book uses to draw a picture of the Portuguese as "slow" backward people. Other comments are made like that the Portuguese are ever so happy if only you utter a few words in their language.
   
   This book is obsessed with titles. It says that a Portuguese person with a university degree takes a doctor's title. This is a misunderstanding of the Portuguese education system. Graduates of a 6-year long university course like lawyers take the title dr., and the title Dr. is for those with a Doctorate (PhD). What is wrong is in Britain, where this book was written, where medics take the title Dr. when they have no Doctorate! You go to the doctors, no, you go to the medics, who have a lower degree than that of Doctor. Still on titles this book goes on saying that other people in Portugal take titles, like an engineer, who is called "senhor engenheiro". Here again, better look at what happens in Britain, where a mechanich is called an engineer! The Portuguese senhor engenheiro has a university degree, for which he studied 6 years.
   
   A book like this one that appears to hold the Portuguese in such low regard better leave the Portuguese alone, better not have been written. It does not help anyone. This xenophobic book says that the Portuguese have "no feeling of sentiment towards animals". I would say this book has no feeling of sentiment towards the Portuguese, nor towards those who are not Portuguese and have bought the book trying to get to know the Portuguese!



4. The saying that you must never choose a book by its cover is entirely applicable in this case. For an insider guide, as claimed on the cover, this book is too superficial. It does not come to grips with the key issues of buying your property. The summaries at the end of each chapter are a good measure of the poor level of information. In the chapter on the Purchasing Process the summary has nothing more substantial to say than it is a good idea to give Power of Attorney to a Portuguese lawyer if you are buying from the UK.
   
   An annoying characteristic in this book is that common place statements are delivered with great solemnity. What the book lacks in useful information it exceeds in platitudes.
   
   I fell for the title and the cover. It served me right. I had to spend more money getting another book. I am pleased I have now found a couple of excellent books on buying property in Portugal. I hope my experience can help others.

No comments about Barcelona Travel Pack, 4th (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

No comments about Fielding's Portugal: The Most In-Depth Guide to the Intimate Charm of Portugal (Fielding's Portugal).