The Companion Guide to the South of Spain

The Companion Guide to the South of Spain PDF Author: Alfonso Lowe
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639330
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
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 troubadours, the poems of Dante and the discoveries of Copernicus; their merchants enriched the province; their courtiers and architects set new standards of luxurious living. This glory finally ended in 1492, when the Christian armies of the Reconquista entered Granada, but much remains in the three Moorish towns of Cordoba, Seville and Granada, and the country round about, to recall the great times. Alfonso Lowe is an admirable guide, from the intricacies of the distinction between Mozarabic and Mudejar Moorish styles to the characteristic dishes to be found in restaurants and bars - and to the adjacent territories of Murcia and the greater part of Alicante.

The Companion Guide to the South of Spain

The Companion Guide to the South of Spain PDF Author: Alfonso Lowe
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639330
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 454

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Book Description
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 troubadours, the poems of Dante and the discoveries of Copernicus; their merchants enriched the province; their courtiers and architects set new standards of luxurious living. This glory finally ended in 1492, when the Christian armies of the Reconquista entered Granada, but much remains in the three Moorish towns of Cordoba, Seville and Granada, and the country round about, to recall the great times. Alfonso Lowe is an admirable guide, from the intricacies of the distinction between Mozarabic and Mudejar Moorish styles to the characteristic dishes to be found in restaurants and bars - and to the adjacent territories of Murcia and the greater part of Alicante.

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain PDF Author: Alastair Boyd
Publisher: Collins Publishers
ISBN: 9780002111966
Category : Madrid (Spain)
Languages : en
Pages : 477

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Book Description
The history and culture of Madrid, the cluster of historical cities at an easy distance (Segovia, Avila and Toledo) and the heartlands of Castile - the core of Spanish civilisation.

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain PDF Author: Alastair Boyd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Madrid (Spain)
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Traveler's Companion Guide to Spain 1998-1999

Traveler's Companion Guide to Spain 1998-1999 PDF Author: Globe Pequot Press
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780762702343
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Few countries have such a clear signature as Spain. The mere sight of its name conjures up sunlight and beaches, flamenco dancers and bullfights, castles and cathedrals, and a proud people with a long, tempestuous history.

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain

The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain PDF Author: Alastair Boyd
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639378
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
The history and culture of Madrid, the cluster of historical cities at an easy distance (Segovia, Avila and Toledo) and the heartlands of Castile - the core of Spanish civilisation. This book performs with great thoroughness all the usual functions of a guidebook. But it is much more than a mere inventory of buildings, paintings, sculpture, routes and views, supplemented by appendices packed with practical information. The authors - from their long experience and deep knowledge of the country - are exceptionally well-equipped to draw together into a coherent whole all the threads of history, art, culture and recent developments. Theysteer you in most rewarding directions, enlivening the hallowed hush of museum or sacristy with an original interpretation of some great painter - El Greco, Goya, Picasso - or an observation which suddenly illuminates the seemingly unexceptional. Madrid, rather than just a political capital at the geographical centre of the country, is revealed as a true metropolis, genuinely representative of all the aspects and regional variations of Spanish life. Its art collections are justly renowned as superb. Add in the cluster of historical cities at an easy distance (including Segovia, Avila and Toledo), to say nothing of the lesser-known treasures and delights secreted in the heartlands of Castile, and you have, within a manageable compass, the core of Spanish civilisation.

The Companion Guide to Venice

The Companion Guide to Venice PDF Author: Hugh Honour
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639248
Category : Venice (Italy)
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
`It offers all that the visitor with a concern for beauty and for leisurely sight-seeing will require.' Financial Times`If ever a guidebook were designed to be read as literature it is Mr Honour's. Even those who know Venice welland love it well will add to their appreciation from this seemingly endless store of information.' Economist 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. OBSERVER There 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, flirting, quarrelling and staring at their visitors with that same unwinking gaze that Venetians have turned on their guests for the past five centuries. The facade of San Marco closes the scene in a glitter of golden mosaic and a bubbling of cupolas, while the great thick red campanile stretches up into the warm mothy darkness of the summer sky. Hugh Honour, it is clear, knows Venice exceptionally well and catches the rhythms of the city's life with unerring skill. His guide, with its winning blend of evocativedetail and precise information, spurs the reader to investigate Venice's wonders: Piazza San Marco is only the beginning of a journey into the heart of Venice and its history.

The Companion Guide to Paris

The Companion Guide to Paris PDF Author: Anthony Glyn
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639200
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
`An exuberant performance' THE TIMES 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 Panthéon; and the restoration of the footpaths along the Seine. Informed and amusing, the book captures the changing moods of this fascinating city.

The Companion Guide to Ireland

The Companion Guide to Ireland PDF Author: Brendan Lehane
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639347
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
As well as being a practical guide it's an exhilarating read... It is a delightful thing: anybody contemplaing crossing to Ireland for pleasure shouldn't think of going without consulting it. OBSERVER

The Companion Guide to Mainland Greece

The Companion Guide to Mainland Greece PDF Author: Brian De Jongh
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639354
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 592

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Book Description
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 of the Greek people and a feeling for the landscape which inspired their myths and monuments: he describes a country that he loved and much of which Pausanias, writing almost two thousand years ago, would still recognise. This book is, more than ever, the most indispensable of all modern guides to Greece.

The Companion Guide to St Petersburg

The Companion Guide to St Petersburg PDF Author: Kyril FitzLyon
Publisher: Companion Guides
ISBN: 9781900639408
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 516

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Book Description
As a guide to the hidden city, reconstructed, imagined and remembered, as well as to St Petersburg today, this book is highly recommended. It will take you to parts of the city and corners of buildings that other guides do not reach and reveal stories that others do not tell.