A jewel of a travel book

books:


	• The palace under the Alps: And over 200 other unusual, unspoiled, and infrequently visited spots in 16 ... Bill Bryson distributed by St. Martin's Press, 1985 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 1 review
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A jewel of a travel book

I picked up this book at a used booksale, along with about 2 dozen other travel books. It was by far the best of any of them! I had read Mr. Bryson's Neither Here Nor There prior to diving into Palace, and enjoyed finding in this text a few more detailed summaries of the sights in his travelogue. Set up by country, Palace describes anywhere from one to 25 little-known sights for each country with enchanting, humorous detail. I am about to spend a year in Europe, and will certainly be investigating many of his "secrets". His descriptions were extroadinary, and I fell in love with some of the places just reading about them; I can't wait to actually experience them. As I searched through the 2 guidebooks that I am taking with me (a Let's Go and a Lonely Planet), I was thoroughly astounded at the number of places in Palace which weren't even mentioned in either of these. And if they were mentioned, 9 times out of 10, what Mr. Bryson wrote was infinitely more valuable. It is an insightful, enjoyable read, with characteristic brutal honesty from Bryson. A note of caution, though: This book was written about 15 years ago, and Europe has changed quite a bit since then. For example, Bryson lists the Algarve as one of Portugal's most beautiful, non-touristed spots, and it has since become a major tourist destination. There are several other extremely unique sights that probably no longer are in existence, but I am looking forward to searching them out anyway! I would certainly enjoy a more recent edition, should Mr. Bryson care to do all that careful research over again! Heck, I'd love to help! For anyone traveling through Europe with a "Back Door" philosophy, or for someone who likes the idea but can't stomach Rick Steves, this book is a jewel.

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