Rating: 
Summary: The Definitive Guide to Spain
Review: This is the definitive guide to Spain. When Carol and I travel in Spain, we're three--the two of us and Penelope. We've been living in Spain since 1992 (the date of the first edition) and we've never traveled in this wonderful country without her. Her asides on history are worth the price of admission, her recommendations on where to eat and stay are invaribly reliable (although she could use some up-dating here and there in the countryside) and her take on places to see and what to do are a genuine menu of Spanish delights. If it matters, this is the preferred guide book of the American Embassy staff.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic travel prose, but frustrating to find places
Review: we traveled to spain during holy week 1999. the places we visited were influenced primarily by casas' beautiful prose. her book whetted our appetites for spain; both for the places and the food.valencia and "la pepica," the catedral of paella were memorable, but... try finding the darn restaurant! the main drawback of this book is that there are no maps, no directions, and/or minimal addresses to find the locations that prove to be such a delight. (if you're not a spanish speaker, asking for directions is problematic!) cuenca and alcala del jucar were everything and more that casas described, but both proved to have many more accomodations than offered by casas. she tends to advise higher priced hotels and paradors, but there proved to be many lovely low priced hotels. casas is an excellent writer. i loved the book, but gosh, i sure cursed her when i was trying to find the places! btw, we loved spain and will definitely return!
Rating:
Summary: A Different Travel Guide
Review: We used this excellent book for a recent trip to Spain, and it made a notable difference, compared with a previous trip. We saw many things that we might have totally missed, and the book gives some very nice (but not tedious) background on just about everything of interest. Maps could be a little better (e.g., include all the places discussed in the text), but we used other maps, and it worked fine. Some restaurants/hotels may be a little pricier than others, but all were very good, and the recommendations usually at least led you to the right areas.
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