I've officially declared "time out" on TIME OUT guides!
On the back cover blurb, New York Times declared, "These books are the most hip and culturally I've officially declared "time out" on TIME OUT guides!
On the back cover blurb, New York Times declared, "These books are the most hip and culturally savvy I've used".
The Observer gushed, "Liberally peppered with all the quirky extras for which TIME OUT is well known".
Until I purchased this copy, I would have happily agreed and, indeed, that's the reason I purchased this one as a supplement to the EYEWITNESS SEVILLE & ANDALUSIA which I already owned.
My expectation was that TIME OUT would be just a little more hip, a little more under the radar, a little less touristy and a little more in the know locally, a little more off the beaten path, a little more focused on entertainment and arts and culture, and a good deal less focused on the typical text heavy list of top tourist sites and places to stay.
This little dud was most assuredly none of that and, even as a normal travel guide, fell well short of the standards established by the likes of EYEWITNESS or LONELY PLANET. I wouldn't categorically state that I'll never buy another TIME OUT guide, but it certainly won't be sight unseen by mail order.
I had such high hopes for this self-published guide to planning a Romanian adventure in Bucharest!
But this piece of trash is not just bad. It's outragI had such high hopes for this self-published guide to planning a Romanian adventure in Bucharest!
But this piece of trash is not just bad. It's outrageously bad and a serious rip-off at the price. Not a single map; not a single photo; not a single street address; not a single drawing.
And the level of repetition is beyond outrageous. "Lipscani district, where cobblestone streets wind their way past colorful buildings and charming cafes" appears for the first time in the opening chapter and is repeated, frequently with verbatim words (how sad is that?) at least 10 to 15 times throughout the course of the remainder of the book. Other tourist areas such as "Grădina Icoanei, a peaceful oasis in the heart of the city" or "the vibrant art scene of Victoriei, where galleries and studios showcase the works of talented local artists" are subject to the same level of repetition. And these are far, far from the only examples. If this book were properly edited and organized, I have absolutely no doubt that the page count would be reduced from its current level of 113 pages to something on the order of no more than 30 to 40 pages.
Chapter 7.1 entitled "Parks and Gardens: Tranquil Escapes Amidst the City Buzz" is an absolutely verbatim cut-and-paste of 2 1/2 pages that repeats Chapter 5.3 entitled "Walking and Exploring: Discovering Bucharest on Foot" ... believe it or not, in its entirety.
And, just a gentle reminder to the author of her title, this is supposed to be a travel guide for the city of Bucharest!! The author has mindlessly thought to include reference to some sites in Romania such as the painted monasteries of northern Moldavia which are nearly 500 km to the north of Bucharest on the Romania border. How is that possibly useful for a tour guide to Bucharest?
If you're looking for a quality tour guide to Romania, you're going to sadly discover that they are not exactly a dime a dozen. And this most definitely is not the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow. DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE!
The home, museum, and library of 19th century architect, Sir John Soane
During the course of my travels, I’ve purchased a number of guides for museumsThe home, museum, and library of 19th century architect, Sir John Soane
During the course of my travels, I’ve purchased a number of guides for museums and art galleries which were intended to fill the holes in visits that were incomplete simply because complete coverage of these kinds of places in a single visit is all but impossible. They were also intended to be souvenirs and to provide me with more complete explanations and histories of some of the more interesting, controversial, or exciting exhibits that, once again, one would not obtain with a single pass tourist visit. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART GUIDE, FRICK COLLECTION: HANDBOOK OF PAINTINGS and ROYAL OBSERVATORY GREENWICH SOUVENIR GUIDE are excellent 5-star examples of this type of tourist guide which I return to fondly from time to time to jog my memory many years after my original visit.
SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM LONDON: MUSEUM GUIDE is most assuredly NOT that kind of souvenir. In fact, it is an actual room-to-room and exhibit-to-exhibit guide which would have been extremely useful in making my visit more complete, more productive, and infinitely more informative had I known what I was holding in my hand as I strolled around Soane’s home. Buy it by all means but use it in the way it was intended because as a souvenir it has to be graded as a failure. My rating of 2-stars is on the basis of the purpose for which I bought it.
I’ll take the liberty of quoting the complete review of a reader who obviously valued it for its intended purpose:
“This well illustrated informative little pamphlet guides a visitor through the architect’s home which is stuffed full of books, paintings, sculpture, and antiquities. Illustrated with color photographs and floor plans, it also calls attention to Soane’s designing of the rooms for visual impact using natural light, mirrors and the placement of furnishings and his immense collection of arts and artifacts. While not a complete catalog of his collections, it’s an excellent little guide for visitors.”
A friend is “someone who always know the perfect answer to that age-old question: where shall we go for a drink?”
If you’re a traveler who likes to samA friend is “someone who always know the perfect answer to that age-old question: where shall we go for a drink?”
If you’re a traveler who likes to sample the local craft beer culture; if you’re a traveler who thinks an extended leisurely pub crawl is an essential part of visiting a foreign city; if the ambience, the design, and the décor of a pub is an essential part of your enjoyment of a tipple or a new cocktail; if you're an out-of-towner who likes to step off the beaten tourist track and sample watering holes that are perhaps a little older, a little more storied, a little more interesting, a little more eccentric, a little more atmospheric, a little more focused on “local” traffic, a little more photogenic (inside or out and for whatever reason), perhaps a little quieter or a little more peaceful; if you enjoy a garden terrace, a sidewalk table, or a cozy inside fireplace – then DRINK LONDON is a book that will serve you well when you decide that London is your next target destination!
DRINK LONDON is Euan Ferguson’s whittling down of the almost eye-watering selection of 7,000 licensed establishments available in London to his personal selection for the 100 best in the city. Each pub, bar, tavern, or gastropub that he has chosen is showcased with a couple or three good quality appealing photographs, a description of his reasons for its inclusion on his list, a suggestion as to his top choice for an order should you choose to check out the available wares, the web site address, and of course, the physical address with an indication of the nearest tube station.
The elite 100 choices are then grouped into six categories – specialty cocktails; legendary locals; craft beer, ale and cider (both on site breweries and vendors of local breweries); pubs of historical interest; specialists in wine and spirits; and, finally, those pubs with a clever, diverting or interesting thematic twist.
If you don’t happen to know anyone in London, then DRINK LONDON could be “that friend” who knows the answer to your question, “where should I go for a drink?” For now, tentatively recommended with a 4-star rating which I’ll happily upgrade to 5-stars if the reality of my upcoming summer visit to London matches the expectations that Mr Ferguson has added to my itinerary.
European travelers will find that experience and time are the limiting resources when it comes to pre-planning a firstAn excellent planning resource!
European travelers will find that experience and time are the limiting resources when it comes to pre-planning a first trip to a destination as large and complex as the Big Smoke. The Eyewitness Travel Top 10 format provides more than enough details to allow for an informed choice between competing destinations but unlike many of the competing alternative guides, it makes no attempt to be encyclopedic drowning an unsuspecting reader in so much knowledge that choices become next to impossible.
Eyewitness Travel Guides seem to have the market beat by a long margin! That's not to say that Lonely Planet, Frommer, Michelin or the Blue and Green Guides miss the mark entirely but the Eyewitness series, in general, seems to be more informative. The photographs and illustrations instill a higher degree of keen anticipation and provide a better means of choosing in advance between a world of competing destinations and alternative tourist attractions. And I can't say enough about the Top 10 format ... dozens of lists - events, restaurants, hotels, museums, walks, churches, bars, great spots for children, insider tips and so much more. Whether your taste in vacations runs to exploring the hot night life spots or scoping out the most exciting history that museums and art galleries have to offer, TOP 10 LONDON will make your trip easier to plan and more enjoyable in the doing.
Portability, durability, sensible layout and organization not to mention the included maps of the city and the metro system make Top 10 Paris the correct choice to tote along with you while you're actually out and about in Paris as well.
Finally, TOP 10 LONDON is a great way of post-filling information and details into some of the holes or places that you might miss or have to rush through when you're actually on the trip. Along with photographs and trip journals, it's also a wonderful way to resurrect detailed memories of a trip long after you've returned home.
“A classic adventure story of single-minded obsession”
Shoalt’s luscious but chilling opening paragraph of the prologue will give an adventurous, o“A classic adventure story of single-minded obsession”
Shoalt’s luscious but chilling opening paragraph of the prologue will give an adventurous, outdoor-minded (and jealous, if I may say so) reader an excellent idea of the treats in store in ALONE AGAINST THE NORTH:
“Ahead of us lay the pitiless expanse of frigid ocean known as Hudson Bay. Behind us lay countless miles of windswept tundra, trackless swamp, and impassable muskeg. Half-famished polar bears roamed the desolate coastline. It wasn’t a place one should travel alone – or at all, really.”
ALONE AGAINST THE NORTH is a gripping story that discloses the heart, the mind, the obsession, the adventures, the exploits, the skills, the determination, the courage, and the achievements of a single-minded explorer determined to chart the length of an unknown river in the James Bay lowlands of Arctic Canada. The Again River was a route which might have been traveled on extremely rare occasions at some point in Canada’s past but that had never been documented or mapped in any way. It was also a river that would mercilessly eat up a canoeist with the temerity to attempt to do so who made so much as the slightest error in judgment.
As an experienced (and, I dare say, somewhat accomplished) outdoorsman, hiker, canoeist and camper in all four seasons, I can attest to the awesome difficulty of Shoalts’ achievements on this first-time descent of a terrifying river. Part biography, part adventure story, part environmental diatribe, and part natural science essay, ALONE AGAINST THE NORTH is all a page-turning and completely compelling story. Congratulations to Adam Shoalts on the outcome and the completion of a book that is easy to heartily recommend to both experienced and wannabe outdoor adventure lovers.
“Lemon blossom and olive trees, whitewashed villages in ochre hills”
“The brilliance of the Spring Fair in Seville. The Moorish beauty of the Alhambra “Lemon blossom and olive trees, whitewashed villages in ochre hills”
“The brilliance of the Spring Fair in Seville. The Moorish beauty of the Alhambra or the timeless elegance of the great mosque at Córdoba.”
I’d be very hard-pressed to find a more eloquent summary of Nicholas Luard’s brilliant portrait of short period he spent living with his family in a valley close to Tarifa, a fishing port on the Mediterranean coast, than the back cover marketing blurb:
“… a vivid record of his journeys through southern Spain … Nicholas describes all the great cities, meets with bullfighters, sherry growers, noblemen and gypsies, and reports on the delights of Andaluz food and wine.”
Just one extended sample paragraph to whet your whistle:
“When I first saw the Andalucian landscape along the straits of Gibraltar on that bright summer morning in 1963 with caravans of eagles migrating overhead and dolphins leaping in the sea below, the Guadalmesi valley was an almost untouched scoop of green cork forest in the hilly shoreline. The coastal road that crossed it was narrow, cratered with potholes, and largely deserted apart from the occasional mule-train or an ancient grinding fish truck which left a snail's track of slime and melting ice in its wake. At one end of the sea-lane Algeciras with its neighbour across, the bay, the sleeping British lion of Gibraltar, selling reliable kippers and echoing to the sound of military bugle calls. At the other the walled town of Tarifa, 'most loyal and most noble', was a little lost enclave, half Moorish and half Andaluz, where the older women wore Arab veils, [and] the windy streets smelled of coriander and sea-salt ..."
This gorgeous, mellifluous, and poetic description of one of the most gorgeous chunks of the world that I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit is a must read for armchair travelers, real travelers, lovers of history and geography, students of the Spanish language and culture, and, perhaps most particularly, any wannabe expats considering a full- or part-time retirement home in the sunny hills of Spanish Andalucía.
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