Places in Turkey: A Pocket Grand Tour [Idioma Inglés] - Softcover

No tourist throngs or happy hours in this book, but some succinct and fascinating snapshots of the undiscovered Turkey. Set out in small chapters, each of which recounts the author's visit to an area of interest, with historical and architectural notes that are both evocative and mesmerising, and punctuated with his own photographic records, this book is a worthy addition to the bookshelves of anyone visiting Turkey for the first or tenth time. (Waterstone's Books Quarterly)

A labour of love, a passionate commitment to mood, to the chance remnants of history, architecture and craft. It returns to us the animating purpose of travel: to arrive, to look, to contemplate and to learn. (Country Life)

Francis Russell's Places in Turkey: A Pocket Grand Tour straddles several distinct literary genres. In part it is a practical guidebook; in part it is travel literature somewhat reminiscent of Freya Stark's series of books on Turkey from the 1950s, and in other parts again it is a work of impressive scholarship that ranks with Bean or Akurgal. These are difficult genres to combine, but in this case it definitely works. Francis Russell has produced a book that will undoubtedly enhance any off-the-beaten-track tour in Turkey and can also be read with great pleasure at home. (Cornucopia)

Francis Russell has diligently mined these sources and done his own sleuthing and exploring (with the sharp eye of an art historian) to give us a grand tour of 80 built masterpieces and other wonders. (Country Life)

A brilliant synthesis of Turkish places. (Burlington Magazine)

Praise for Places In Italy

'The author has achieved the near impossible in condensing his top 52 Italian places into a handy compact guide ... A must-squeeze into hand baggage, or even the gap-year backpack.'

House and Garden

'Masterpieces come in all shapes and sizes, and this is a small one, but none the worse for that ... The result is rather like a conversation with a well-informed friend. He tells you exactly what you want to know, in the most succinct terms.'

Country Life

'Russell's introduction is a minor classic, too'

Times Literary Supplement

As someone who has travelled in Turkey for more than 20 years, Russell brings a wealth of experience to this covetable little guide, writing with erudition and sensitivity about the country's many architectural treasures. The 83 sites are numbered, rather than grouped geographically or thematically, from Armenian and Georgian churches to Seljuk and Ottoman monuments and the buildings dedicated to Islam. Each is given several pages, including photographs, a few of which are in colour. Plenty of historical and cultural background is included, and the writing is succinct but never dry. Invaluable for anyone planning a serious cultural trip.

Telegraph.co.uk

Turkey for the tourist is a daunting, yet infinitely rewarding, proposition. The guide books cover everything most efficiently, but present a different problem: how to choose between the places? Francis Russell has been travelling in Turkey for more than twenty years, and with the eighty three recommendations here he provides a fascinating and comprehensive itinerary. More interested in extant buildings than excavations, and favouring unexcavated sites over those where 'the hand of the archaeologist is officiously evident', from the lost classical world of the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine sites, and the Armenian and Georgian churches which are offshoots of the same growth, to the great monuments of the Seljuk and Ottoman civilizations, from the much visited southern coast to the heartlands of Anatolia, Russell's deep understanding of the history and culture of the region, and his keen eye for detail, make him the most delightfully erudite of travelling companions.. NOTA: El libro no está en español, sino en inglés.