Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Philippe Thiébaut Gaudí:BuilderofVisions . Read van Hensbergen for the life, but pick up
this pocket-sized volume for its excellent photographic coverage - not just Gaudí buildings
and interiors, but sketches, historical photographs and architectural insights that add up to a
useful gateway to his work in the city and surroundings.
FOOD AND WINE
Colman Andrews Catalan Cuisine . The best available - possibly the only available -
English-language book dealing with Spain's most adventurous regional cuisine. Full of his-
torical and anecdotal detail, it's a pleasure to read, let alone cook from (no pictures, though).
PenelopeCasas TheFoodsandWinesofSpain .CasasroamsacrosseveryregionofSpainin
this classic Spanish cookery book, including the best dishes that Catalunya has to offer. Her
Paella and Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain cover the rest of the bases.
Jan Read Wines of Spain . All you need to know to sort out your Penedès from your Priorat
- an explanation of regions and producers, plus tasting notes and tips for wine tourists.
NOVELS SET IN BARCELONA
John Bryson To the Death, Amic . Barcelona, under siege during the Civil War, is the back-
drop for a coming-of-age novel recounting the adventures of 10-year-old twins Enric and
Josep.
Miguel Cervantes DonQuixote. Barcelona is the only city to which Cervantes gives its real
name in his picaresque classic - in the Barcelona chapters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
see the ocean for the first time, and Quixote fights a duel on Barceloneta beach against the
Knight of the White Moon.
Ildefonso Falcones Cathedral of the Sea . Falcones, a lawyer living in Barcelona, sets his
first novel in the expansionist years of the fourteenth century, where work is under way on
the building of the city's most magnificent church, Santa María del Mar. It's a highly real-
istic, excitingly plotted tale that lifts the skirts of medieval Barcelona to show an authentic
picture of a city on the make. It was a Spanish award-winner on publication and has become
something of a publishing sensation, in the manner of The Shadow of the Wind .
Juan Marse Lizard Tails and Shanghai Nights . Marse spent his formative years in a Bar-
celona scarred by the Civil War, and ruptured childhood and family hardship are themes that
emerge in much of his work. Only a couple of titles have thus far been translated into Eng-
lish: LizardTails isanevocationofpost-CivilWarchildhood,while ShanghaiNights -again,
Barcelona and war to the fore - is billed as “a tale of the human spirit”.
Eduardo Mendoza City of Marvels , The Truth About the Savolta Case and The Year of
theFlood . Mendoza's first and best novel, CityofMarvels , is set in the expanding Barcelona
of 1880-1920, full of rich underworld characters and riddled with anarchic and comic turns.
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