As elegant as it is exhaustive. The whole book has body and bouquet, (its author) is well-read, witty, relaxed and impeccably observant. GUARDIAN Burgundy is one of the richest areas in France - rich in its art and architecture, its history, its food and wines, and its glorious countryside. Nowhere in Europe are there greater examples of the Romanesque: the basilica of the Madeleine at Vezelay, the sculptures of Gislebertus of Autun, the cathedral of St Philibert at Tournus. The very names of its vineyards - Corton, Chambertin, Montrachet - conjure up the robust and mature bouquet of the...

Highly praised on its first appearance, this new edition of the Companion Guide to Paris, fully revised by Anthony Glyn's widow, preserves his vivid evocation of Paris -- its foundation and history, ancient churches, wide boulevards and narrow streets, architecture, and philosophy -- while bringing the book up to date. Special attention is paid to the completed Grand Louvre with its Pyramid, the d'Orsay and Picasso Museums and the refurbished Centre Pompidou; the changes to the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon; and the restoration of the footpaths along the Seine. Informed and amusing, the book...

Offers all that the visitor with a concern for beauty and for leisurely sight-seeing will require. FINANCIAL TIMES The best guide book I have ever encountered... and a book I found it impossible not to read from beginning to end. OBSERVERThere are few pleasanter ways of passing a summer's evening than sitting over a cup of coffee, and perhaps a glass of Aurum, in the Piazza San Marco. It is especially agreeable on those nights when the Venetian city band thunders away at some throbbingly romantic piece... And all the while the younger inhabitants parade around the square, chattering,...

Istanbul is the only city in the world that stands astride two continents, spreading across from Europe into Asia at the southern end of the Bosphorus, the incomparably beautiful strait linking the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in northwestern Turkey. This Companion Guide to Istanbul goes as far as the region around Marmara from the Bosphorus to the Dardanelles, which flows into the Aegean past the historic ruins of Troy on its Asian shore. Revised and updated for this new edition, the book is a guide to the Byzantine and Ottoman monuments and to the many other places of great historic...

Written with unfailing common sense, as well as insight and affection... the perfect guide to this tremendous city OBSERVER A true traveller's companion and friend SUNDAY TELEGRAPH For more than thirty years Michael Leapman has been intimately involved with New York as a journalist, resident or frequent visitor. Here he takes readers with him on a series of walks through the heart of Manhattan and beyond, explaining how it came to be the world's most fabulous city, as well as revealing its present-day secrets. When the original edition of this incomparable guide was published in 1983, it won...

I value the traditional virtues of the Companion Guides... actually written by an individual rather than packaged by production teams... straightforward intelligent guides to cultural sites. BOOKSELLER Andalucia in its heyday, after the invasion of the Moors in 711, was famous for its wealth and fertility, and the province's Moorish character remains distinct; even before the Moors, the Phoenicians, the Romans and the Vandals had all been drawn to this beautiful land. The Moors cultivated science and the arts, and their influence was felt throughout western Europe - in the songs of the...

When Brian de Jongh's two classic Companion Guides, Southern Greece and Mainland Greece, were first published they were greeted with acclaim and immediately established themselves as essential guides. They have now been combined into this single volume, covering the whole of the Greek mainland. This new edition has been thoroughly revised by John Gandon (Brian de Jongh's nephew) and Geoffrey Graham-Bell, taking into account both new archaeological discoveries and recent development. Brian de Jongh combined an expert knowledge of history, archaeology and mythology with a profound understanding...

The question posed to the author once by a prospective visitor to Wales - "What is there to see?" - is not susceptible of a short, or quick, answer. For the delights of Wales are cumulative and understated: a succession of small country churches rather than great city cathedrals, a labyrinth of byways away from the few highways, details of vernacular architecture rather than grand edifices, the thirteenth-century Edwardian castles being the exception that proves this rule. A cultural tradition rooted in the austerity and erudition of the Celtic saints, a tradition more confirmed than...

This is a thoroughly revised and updated edition of KEITH SPENCE's essential guide to two of the most beautiful - and often still unspoiled - counties in England, which on its first publication quickly established itself as the best available guide to the area. Mr Spence shows how much as yet survives and how rich, varied and fascinating this part of England still is. He writes sensitively and knowledgeably about buildings and architecture, and has a keen sense of the detail that gives identity to a place. There is much to be learned from this book, which maintains the high standard of the...

Unimprovably good JOHN LANCHESTER, LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS There is hardly a stone in the Lake District that Frank Welsh leaves unturned. From the particular delights of the places with which the Lake Poets are associated - Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Buttermere, Cockermouth - to the remoter parts of the Eden Valley and Furness, over the fells, beside the lakes, through history, topography, archaeology, literature, geology and even bakery, Frank Welsh is the consummate guide and companion, writing with wit, intelligence and true skill. He covers both the less visited, and, in the author's view,...