Travelling
A Book Review

New Guidebook

Authors Adrian Phillips and Jo Scotchmer, also responsible for the Budapest guide, spent six months travelling around Hungary, and in that relatively short period of time gathered an enormous amount of information about sights worth seeing in the country, and discovered hidden treasures that few people know, even among us Hungarians.

All is written in a concise yet enjoyable style, without the proliferation of Hungarian spelling mistakes omnipresent in foreign language publications. If only the editors had found a different cover picture from the ubiquitous "men playing chess in Széchenyi Bath."

Information

Hungary:The Bradt Travel Guide
By Adrian Phillips and Jo Scotchmer Published by Bradt Travel Guides Ltd, UK.
To be available: Pendragon Book store, Pest, District XIII, Pozsonyi utca 21-23.

The mentioning of the restaurant Ôs Kaján in Tolcsva or László Sólyom's name as President of the Republic, illustrate the insight and up-to-date nature of the publication. What is even more important however, the two authors acquired an understanding of the Hungarian ways, psyche and attitude, which is probably why this guide is fun to read even for a Hungarian. Apart from the usual background, practical information, Budapest and the rest of the country sections, I appreciated the boxes including either more general information, like a photographers' crash course, or insights into particular issues like the sociology of the Roma population.

THE Bradt Guides are relatively lesser known travel companions than the giant publishing companies' books found in all bookstores. However, their editions have been around for a good 30 years. While the Budapest guide was published (and reviewed in The Budapest Sun) last year, this autumn sees the launching of the first ever Bradt Travel Guide to Hungary.