“Rick Steve’s Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels 2003”
(Avalon; $14.95)
Veteran travel writer Rick Steves offers his patented advice on how to appreciate the Low Countries on a tight budget, without skimping on the area’s most famous and notorious sites. He recommends various day plans, walking tours and trip itineraries. In Amsterdam, for example, he suggests everything from the Van Gogh Museum (which features 200 paintings by the troubled genius) and the Heineken Brewery to the former homes of Anne Frank (the hideaway of the young Jewish girl during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands) and Rembrandt. And who can forget the Prostitution Information Center or the Marijuana and Hemp Museum? This is Amsterdam, after all. (ISBN 1-56691-453-1)
Travel narratives
“The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek”
(Penguin; $13)
More than 2,300 years ago, a Greek named Pytheas traveled to the very fringes of the known world and returned home to write about his remarkable journey. First published about 320 B.C., his account was perhaps the first travel narrative ever written. The text he wrote, “On the Ocean,” has been lost for nearly 2,000 years. All that remains are maddeningly tantalizing fragments of evidence about its contents. In “The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek,” noted historian and archeologist Barry Cunliffe pieces together the elusive bits and pieces in his own book that is part detective story and part travel narrative, attempting to re-create the physical and intellectual world of Pytheas. The peripatetic Greek reportedly gave the earliest descriptions of Brittany, the British Isles–as far north as Orkney and Shetland–Denmark and possibly the east coast of Iceland. To some he was a charlatan, to others a courageous adventurer. For the general reader, though, and especially anyone interested in ancient history, Cunliffe has written an entertaining and fascinating book on this most enigmatic of early travelers. (ISBN 0-14-200254-2)
“Solomon Time: An Unlikely Quest in the South Pacific”
(Scribner; $23)
Call Will Randall the reluctant adventurer, the exceedingly accidental tourist. A thirty-something schoolteacher from England, Randall decides to do what for him is unthinkable: leave rainy England behind to move to a sunny but remote island in the South Pacific, so remote in fact that it can only be reached by canoe. Ironically, we learn that Randall was quite content with his small world of classroom, house in the country and a friendly pub on the way home. To go to the other side of the world to a place that he hardly knew existed seems, to the rational mind at least, a foolhardy choice. By his own admission, Randall is no great adventurer–a far cry from the Sir Richard Burtons and Bill Brysons of the travel world. But when given a chance to move to the Solomon Islands, he reluctantly accepts the challenge. Of course, he has no idea what’s in store; and that, of course, is the most enjoyable part of the book as we find our hero bumbling his way through a South Pacific Paradise Lost. Randall is an engaging writer, funny and self-deprecating as an Englishman abroad–the literary equivalent of a Hugh Grant. He is in way over his head but doesn’t know quite how to extricate himself from the pickle he’s in. (ISBN 0-7432-4396-X)
Specialty interest travel
“Without the City Wall: An Adventure in London Street Names”
(Akadine Press/A Common Reader; $21.95)
Anyone who has ever visited London knows that the city’s streets are full of names that resonate with history. Originally published in 1952, this paperback original is the first in the new Common Reader London Library series that reveals the origins of up to a thousand street names on the north side of the Thames, from Islington to Hammersmith. Darkly evocative names such as Bleeding Heart Yard, the Isle of Dogs and Jack Straw’s Castle tell part of the story. (ISBN 1-58579-042-7)
“The Parthenon”
(Harvard University Press; $19.95)
Of all the famous buildings in the world, few surpass the beauty and elegance of the Parthenon, that most enigmatic of ancient ruins. Ever since it was built some 2,500 years ago atop the Acropolis of Athens, it has served many purposes: as symbol of the cradle of ancient civilization, as temple of imperial Greece, as precious archeological site and erstwhile tourist attraction. In “The Parthenon,” historian Mary Beard discusses the myths and legends surrounding its history, from the 5th Century B.C. to the present day. Its likeness has been copied in cities around the world. In Edinburgh, nicknamed the Athens of the North, there’s the unfinished replica that still sits atop Calton Hill. In Nashville, the Athens of the South, there’s the Parthenon that was built as a temporary pavilion in 1897 before being rebuilt using more durable materials in the 1920s. Both cultural history and armchair guide, “The Parthenon” offers a fascinating look at one of the most enduringly popular symbols of the ancient world. The erudite Beard proves to be a knowledgeable and engaging guide, offering just the right amount of intellectual vigor and natural curiosity. As she duly notes, the interior of the Parthenon, the original one, will be off limits until the current restoration project is completed in 2010. (ISBN 0-674-01085-X)
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The Chicago Tribune Travel section does not sell any of the items reviewed in the Resourceful Traveler column. Purchase information for books is given in the form of ISBN codes. The code, a book’s unique identifier, may be given to local bookstores to help locate titles in stock or place them on order.
