Lonely Planet Spain [Paperback]

Damien Simonis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lonely Planet Spain | Publication Date: March 2003

- sun, sea, sand & sangria: the chill-out & party guide to suit every traveler
- illuminating special sections on flamenco, architecture & Spain's gastronomic treats
- accommodation options to suit every pocket, from pretty pensiones to palatial pads
- bumper language guide to Castilian, Basque, Catalan & Galician Spanish

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

It has been said that Europe ends at the Pyrenees. While that has always been an exaggeration, any journey south of those mountains proves that, as an old tourism promotion campaign had it, Spain is different. With its plethora of colorful fiestas and indefatigable nightlife, its complete spectrum of scenery and its unique, well-preserved architectural and artistic heritage, Spain provides a variety of fun and fascination that few countries can match.

Travel is easy, accommodation plentiful, the climate generally benign, the people relaxed and fun-loving, the beaches long and sandy, and food and drink easy to come by and full of regional variation. More than 50 million foreigners a year visit Spain, yet you can also travel for days and hear no other tongue but Spanish. Once away from the holiday costas, you could only be in Spain. In the cities, narrow, twisting old streets suddenly open out to views of daring modern architecture, while spit-and-sawdust bars serving wine from the barrel rub shoulders with blaring, glaring discos. Travel out into the back country and you'll find, an hour or two from some of Europe's most stylish and sophisticated cities, villages where time has done its best to stand still since the Middle Ages.

Geographically, Spain's diversity is immense. In Andalucia, for example, you could ski in the Sierra Nevada and later the same recline on a Mediterranean beach or traverse the deserts of Almeria. There are endless tracts of wild and crinkled sierra to explore, as well as some spectacularly rugged stretches of coast between the beaches - many of which are far less crowded and developed than you might imagine.

Culturally, the country is littered with superb old buildings, from Roman aqueducts and Islamic palaces to Gothic cathedrals. Almost every second village has a medieval castle. Spain has been the home of some the world's great artists - El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Dali, Picasso - and has museums and galleries to match. The country vibrates with music of every kind - from the drama of flamenco to the melancholy lyricism of the Celtic music and gaitas (bagpipes) of the northwest.

The more you travel in Spain, the bigger it seems to get. It's surprising just how many Spains there are. Cool, damp, green Galicia is a world away from hot, dry Andalucia, home of flamenco and bullfighting. Fertile Catalunya in the northeast, with its separate language and independent spirit, seems a different nation from the Castilian heartland on the austere meseta at the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Sophisticated San Sebastian and the farmsteads and rolling country of the Basque Country have precious little in common with the coast and limpid water of the Balearic Islands. Once you leave the beaten track, it can take as long to wind your way through a couple of remote valleys and over the sierra between them as it would to travel the highway or railway from Madrid to Barcelona. All you need to do is get out there and enjoy it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 888 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 4th edition (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740593375
• ISBN-13: 978-1740593373
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,782,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overweight, stale, out of date, September 10, 2004

By 

Hairy Larry (Toronto, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lonely Planet Spain (Paperback)

I have used the Lonely Planet guides in Asia, the Middle East, and in Europe. Lately, they seem to have lost their way. Originally, the LP guides were for people who had travelled at least a little bit before and needed some pointers to an area. The guides usually had some sort of walking tours in the cities they indicated. Their guides have become filled with useless colour photos of generic scenes, The quirky, fresh information has largely disappeared -- In the summer of 2004, I used the LP guides for both Portugal and Spain. I travelled for about three months. I had been in both places before and had used a LP guide. The most recent guides are stale and minimally updated. They are also occassionally misleading; especially concerning food. Sadly, the LP guide to Spain is not worth the weight that goes along with carrying it.

A telling thing is that I saw several tourists with back packs hanging on both their back and front clutching their LP guides while staggering and sight-seeing through Spanish cities in the afternoon. This is telling for two reasons: (one) In the afternoon, in Spain, there is little to do other than siesta, eat, or drink; it is not the time to sight-see (two) Carrying two packs is carrying one pack too many; the prior generation of LP users were experienced travellers (not tourists) and would find two packs foolish. Anyhow, somehow, LP has lost focus and now better serves the Lets Go crowd instead of more experienced travellers.

My advice: If this is your first trip to Europe, consider buying Lets Go. If you already know how to get your bags off of the airplane, search for an alternative by looking at country specific guides; do not buy a LP guide just because you had happily used one before.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you buy one travel book on spain this must be it., December 3, 2003

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Spain (Paperback)

When you arrive in Barcelona at 11pm and don't have a hotel this is the ONLY travel book that will solve your fears of sleeping on the street. This wonderful edition includes beautiful, detailed colored maps of Madrid, Barcelona and many black and white maps of other cities. The maps for the Madrid and Barcelona subways can be easily torn out for easy conspicuous use around town.

Separate chapters detail every aspect of Spanish life, culture and customs, including histories of the essential Franco and post Franco periods. Separate chapters detail every inch of Spanish territory, from Linea De La Concepcion to Santiago to Bilboa and of course Ibiza. A wonderful book for anyone traveling, those looking for hostels and those looking for 3 star hotels will both be satisfied, whether you're a hippie or a business man or just looking for the parties in Seville and Cordoba you will be very pleased.

Seth J. Frantzman 2003