City Travel Guides > Books > Syria

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.Syria and Lebanon (Lonely Planet Multi Country Guide)
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Lara Dunston, Terry Carter, et al

July 01, 2008
The new July 2008 edition recently arrived. I think it's a great advance over previous editions, although I agree with Lara that Syria warrants its own Lonely Planet guide. Many text-boxes and references to more specialist sources of information have been added. Everything has been updated and substandard accommodation deleted. It's very compact, light and easy-to-use - except for the street maps. These seem more difficult to read than ever! Extra plans showing the layout of ruins and of some museums are great. However, the prices given for flights and accommodation are already well out-of-date. Judging by the introductory sections, the guide was completed in about February 2008. Lonely Planet needs to speed-up its printing schedule, although ... Read More:
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.Syria (Bradt Travel Guide Syria)
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Diana Darke

July 15, 2006
this book is very informative and easy to follow. I would have liked to see more colour pictures in it though - that was the only disappointment for me.
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.Damascus: Hidden Treasures of the Old City
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Brigid Keenan

July 16, 2001
This is a rare opportunity to see inside some of Damscus' most beautiful buildings, with complex histories stretching back many centuries. Having lived in this still vibrant and bustling city, I've seen a few of the best known of the buildings in this book. This book's real selling point, however, is its access to houses that the average student or tourist has little hope of seeing unless fortunate enough to meet the families that live in them. The accompanying text also strikes the right balance between historical depth and sheer readability with a blend of history, anecdote and explanation. It also ties in well to the beautiful photography, meaning there is not much in the way of flipping back and forth. Highly recommended.
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.Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Agatha Christie

June 07, 1999
I picked up this book following a visit to an exhibition in the British Museum about Christie's travels in the Middle East. My only contact with the writer before this was via the cosy middle-England dramatisations of her work that appear on television and I was rather more interested in the archaeology than Christie herself. This book blew away all my pre-conceptions. What I found in Christies descriptions of her journeys to modern-day Iraq - where she was accompanying her husband, the archeologist Max Mallowan, on his digs - was a woman, extremely happy in her surroundings who was fascinated by her husband's work and whose understanding of and concern for the local population was advanced even by today's standards. Her descriptions of the everyday ... Read More:
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.Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey Through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Sonia Uvezian

September 01, 2001
This is another landmark cookbook by Sonia Uvezian, her best yet. I am familiar with many books on eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cooking, but none compare to this revelatory and loving volume in which the author brings to life a cuisine and a culture in the way only one who was born and reared in the region could. Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen recreates a time and place inaccessible not just to most of us in the West but even to most eastern Mediterraneans. It evokes the world of Uvezian's Lebanese childhood and is a rich portrayal of how people lived once upon a time, a happy time, not too long ago. A masterpiece of culinary instruction as valuable for its authentic and inspired recipes as for its exceptionally informative ... Read More:
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.Syria (Travellers) (Travellers)
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Thomas Cook Publishi

July 24, 2008
This is another landmark cookbook by Sonia Uvezian, her best yet. I am familiar with many books on eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cooking, but none compare to this revelatory and loving volume in which the author brings to life a cuisine and a culture in the way only one who was born and reared in the region could. Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen recreates a time and place inaccessible not just to most of us in the West but even to most eastern Mediterraneans. It evokes the world of Uvezian's Lebanese childhood and is a rich portrayal of how people lived once upon a time, a happy time, not too long ago. A masterpiece of culinary instruction as valuable for its authentic and inspired recipes as for its exceptionally informative ... Read More:
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.Damascus: Taste of a City (Armchair Traveller)
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Rafiq Schami, Marie Fadel

September 25, 2005
Great book! In it, Rafik Schami - a well known storyteller of Damascene origin writing in German - puts together a narative from phone conversations with his sister in Damascus, in which she travels through the old city, chatting about neighbours and neighbourhoods and bringing in wonderful recipes linked to the person or place. I've learned so much about Damascus from it that I could not have learned otherwise from anything other than years of living in the old city (if only!).

But it is a book for those who see a city as its people, not for those who are more interested in places. The author is from a Christian family, and so about half of the book is based around Bab Touma, but that's really an advantage - one gets a better sense of community than if it ... Read More:
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.The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool: A Syrian Journey
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Marius Kociejowski

February 23, 2006
Great book! In it, Rafik Schami - a well known storyteller of Damascene origin writing in German - puts together a narative from phone conversations with his sister in Damascus, in which she travels through the old city, chatting about neighbours and neighbourhoods and bringing in wonderful recipes linked to the person or place. I've learned so much about Damascus from it that I could not have learned otherwise from anything other than years of living in the old city (if only!).

But it is a book for those who see a city as its people, not for those who are more interested in places. The author is from a Christian family, and so about half of the book is based around Bab Touma, but that's really an advantage - one gets a better sense of community than if it ... Read More:
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.Mirror to Damascus
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Colin Thubron

January 02, 1996
Great book! In it, Rafik Schami - a well known storyteller of Damascene origin writing in German - puts together a narative from phone conversations with his sister in Damascus, in which she travels through the old city, chatting about neighbours and neighbourhoods and bringing in wonderful recipes linked to the person or place. I've learned so much about Damascus from it that I could not have learned otherwise from anything other than years of living in the old city (if only!).

But it is a book for those who see a city as its people, not for those who are more interested in places. The author is from a Christian family, and so about half of the book is based around Bab Touma, but that's really an advantage - one gets a better sense of community than if it ... Read More:
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.Syria: Cradle of Civilisations
City Travel Guides > Books > Syria
by: Alain Cheneviere

November 04, 1996
Great book! In it, Rafik Schami - a well known storyteller of Damascene origin writing in German - puts together a narative from phone conversations with his sister in Damascus, in which she travels through the old city, chatting about neighbours and neighbourhoods and bringing in wonderful recipes linked to the person or place. I've learned so much about Damascus from it that I could not have learned otherwise from anything other than years of living in the old city (if only!).

But it is a book for those who see a city as its people, not for those who are more interested in places. The author is from a Christian family, and so about half of the book is based around Bab Touma, but that's really an advantage - one gets a better sense of community than if it ... Read More:
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Used Price: £22.99