Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain (Companion Guides)

by Alastair Boyd (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $3.25

  In its architecture, its painting and its people, the Great Castilian plateau of central Spain is one of the crucibles of western civilisation. This book covers the area from Burgos in the north to Ciudad Real in the south; from Ciudad Rodrigo in the west to Cuena in the east. Madrid lies at its heart, but apart from the glories of the Prado and the royal palaces around it, Alastair Boyd finds more for the traveller in the neighbouring provinces. Segovia and Salamanca, Toledo and Avila; the very names are enough to evoke the astonishing riches which they contain and which Mr Boyd describes with scholarship, wit and love. This newly revised edition contains details of all the recent changes in the area which can be expected to affect the traveller, and up to date practical information on where to stay and how to travel.

• Used

  Paperback
  1987

  $3.25

• New

  Paperback
  2002

  $27.47

  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. They steer 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.