Travel

No competing guides exist that provide in-depth hotel, restaurant and other practical information for the region of the Italian Lakes and Milan (Lombardia). Culinary delights abound here. Risotto, polenta, minestrone, ossobucco originated in the region. The little town of Gorgonzola is here as well, where you can get the best you-know-what in the world. The wines are fabulous. Milan is a world leader in fashion and boutiques are everywhere. We give full details on what to buy and where. A short drive out of Milan are the Lakes. Belaggio is on Lake Como, where Franz Liszt lived. Pliny the Younger and Virgil lived here as well in Roman times and called it the most beautiful place in the world. From the hills above you can see the Matterhorn. Lake Lugano overlaps into Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is surrounded by ancient towers and castles. Lakes Iseo, Idro and Orta are described as well. Milan Cathedral is the largest in Europe after St. Peters - 450 ft long - and La Scala opera house is here as well, where many of the world's greatest operas were first performed and still are today. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper is in Milan, along with medieval palace museums filled with art by Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Piero della Francesca and other great artists. Historic towns in the shadow of the Alps here include Cremona, where Stradivarius, the violin-maker worked for 70 years, Brescia, Mantua, Pavia, Locarno - almost all retaining their medieval central sections. Music and dance festivals take place in all of them. This is an in-depth guide to every aspect of the region, written by a long-term local resident. more...

Price: $15.00

The true story of three enthusiastic (but inexperienced) adventurers who attempt to become the first team to raft the entire length of the Amazon River–all 4,007 miles--and (barely) live to tell about it. To a trio of twenty-something adrenaline junkies, it sounded like an irresistible challenge: tackle the Amazon with nothing more than a rubber raft between them and fate. more...

Price: $22.95

Presented in a handy question-and-answer format, this practical guide to airline travel draws on the expertise of a commercial airline pilot to provide valuable information on safety, security screening, passenger health, aerodynamics, and many other topics, accompanied by a glossary of common buzzwords for travelers. Original. more...

Price: $15.00

Frances Mayes, whose enchanting #1 New York Times bestseller Under the Tuscan Sun made the world fall in love with Tuscany, invites us back for a delightful new season of friendship, festivity, and food, there and throughout Italy. A companion volume to Under the Tuscan Sun , Bella Tuscany is Frances Mayes's passionate and lyrical account of her continuing love affair with Italy. more...

Price: $15.00

For more than twenty years Louise Erdrich has dazzled readers with the intricately wrought, deeply poetic novels which have won her a place among today's finest writers. Her nonfiction is equally eloquent, and this lovely memoir offers a vivid glimpse of the landscape, the people, and the long tradition of storytelling that give her work its magical, elemental force. more...

Price: $8.95