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13th February 2009 - Bradt Travel Guides
Israel
It’s nine years since Palestine was published, and Bradt’s unerring ability to be ahead of the news is again demonstrated with the first edition of Israel set to hit the shelves of all good bookshops. No country divides opinions more strongly; seen by much of the Middle East as Europe’s 'betrayal of the Arabs' manifest in a state and by others as an outpost of democracy offering refuge to a people persecuted throughout history, Israel was never going to be an easy project. However, lying at the confluence of the Syrian-African Rift Valley and the European steppes, away from the frontline bombardment of TV news's big guns and grandstanding politicians, Israel maintains huge appeal as a tourist destination.
Scriptures describe the Holy Land as ‘a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey’. Indeed, a varied climate, geography and geology provide habitats for 2,380 species of flora and 116 species of mammal (compared to 100 in the whole of Europe), including Nubian ibex, wolf, wild boar, hyena and elusive leopard. In common with all Bradt titles, Israel gets off the beaten-track, guiding travellers through the Negev, Judean and Arava deserts, verdant Galilee and the lofty heights of Golan. The text is certainly suffused with in-depth coverage of history and archaeology but is also bang up to date on the tectonic tensions at the meeting of three major religions in Jerusalem. As well as a clear run down of who believes what and why, there’s pragmatic advice on how to avoid offending prickly sensibilities; in Orthodox Jewish districts, for example, ‘the stoning of vehicles (not abiding by Shabbat) is commonplace’, whilst in Muslim areas strict adherence to fasting and not smoking are prerequisites during Ramadan. However, Wilson also describes a fast-paced, hardworking, fun-loving and cosmopolitan Tel Aviv that revels in its almost hedonistic secular appeal – ‘in many ways the most Israeli of Israel’s cities’. Bradt’s new guidebook doesn’t claim to offer an alternative ‘roadmap’ to Middle-East harmony but it does inform and will certainly enrich any visit to the world’s most complex religio-political destination.
Samantha Wilson is a freelance writer with a degree in archaeology. She has spent several years travelling to every corner of Israel, from snow-capped mountains to Red Sea coast and every kibbutz in between.
For review copies contact Travel Media – 01830 540 440 or info@travel-media.co.uk
Title: Israel Author: Samantha Wilson
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides Publication: January 2009
Price: £15.99 ISBN: 978 1 84162 271 2
Scriptures describe the Holy Land as ‘a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey’. Indeed, a varied climate, geography and geology provide habitats for 2,380 species of flora and 116 species of mammal (compared to 100 in the whole of Europe), including Nubian ibex, wolf, wild boar, hyena and elusive leopard. In common with all Bradt titles, Israel gets off the beaten-track, guiding travellers through the Negev, Judean and Arava deserts, verdant Galilee and the lofty heights of Golan. The text is certainly suffused with in-depth coverage of history and archaeology but is also bang up to date on the tectonic tensions at the meeting of three major religions in Jerusalem. As well as a clear run down of who believes what and why, there’s pragmatic advice on how to avoid offending prickly sensibilities; in Orthodox Jewish districts, for example, ‘the stoning of vehicles (not abiding by Shabbat) is commonplace’, whilst in Muslim areas strict adherence to fasting and not smoking are prerequisites during Ramadan. However, Wilson also describes a fast-paced, hardworking, fun-loving and cosmopolitan Tel Aviv that revels in its almost hedonistic secular appeal – ‘in many ways the most Israeli of Israel’s cities’. Bradt’s new guidebook doesn’t claim to offer an alternative ‘roadmap’ to Middle-East harmony but it does inform and will certainly enrich any visit to the world’s most complex religio-political destination.
Samantha Wilson is a freelance writer with a degree in archaeology. She has spent several years travelling to every corner of Israel, from snow-capped mountains to Red Sea coast and every kibbutz in between.
For review copies contact Travel Media – 01830 540 440 or info@travel-media.co.uk
Title: Israel Author: Samantha Wilson
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides Publication: January 2009
Price: £15.99 ISBN: 978 1 84162 271 2
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Travel-Media.co.uk | Last Updated: 22/12/2009