Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #829823 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Great Guidebooks ... but ...
Bradt should be commended for producing guidebooks to locations that few other companies (even the ubiquitous Lonely Planet) have tried to tackle.

This books is typical for the series -- exploring out of the way and little known destinations and offering a mixture of practical information and cultural background.

The one flaw of the book is one common to most guidebooks in the series. Information about opening hours for sites tends to be sketchy at best. They USUALLY give hours for museums, but not for other sites. If one is spending several months in a place, this may not be a problem, but if a traveller is trying to plan a vacation and has limited time, it can be very helpful to know when specific sites are open. Also, while the hotel information is quite detailed, complete with prices; restaurant info is also sketchy, rarely providing opening hours/days, and almost never giving more than the vaguest indication of price. ("Moderate" isn't much help, really!)

definitive guidebook to emerging destination
Annalisa Rellie has written a smart, indgithful and passionate survey of this fascinating small country. Her descriptions tend towards the poetic but her insight is strong. It's a thorough and authoritative guide which I found to be really practical and useful. Well done Mrs. Rellie, and well done Bradt.

Well written
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (11/06)

The Balkans are an area that the Westerners rarely dare to tackle, whether in writing or in person; and when they do attempt to do it, all too often they end up in a convoluted maze of sentiments, ideas and facts so incomprehensible to them that they either give up or leave with a totally wrong impression. Therefore it was so very refreshing to read such a well researched travel guide as this guide to the tiny country of Montenegro.

Let me start by saying that some of my family roots actually are from Montenegro and I also worked there as a tour guide many years ago. Studying the history and the people of the truly amazingly beautiful country of Montenegro made me fall in love with it even more deeply. Well, it seems that something similar happened to Annalisa Rellie. Her love for Montenegro and the desire to truly understand this magical country and its charming inhabitants shines from every page.

This is an exceptionally useful guidebook with all of the usual, expected information; but it will also give you an unprecedented insight into the reality of everyday life in Montenegro. Ms. Rellie included even such tidbits as what are the little white squares of paper pinned to roadside trees (burial notices) and what do the different color of borders on them mean (well, for that you should get the book and find out yourself...) Her descriptions of locations are extremely picturesque and very visual, down to the two dogs chained by a local inn in the mountains. She definitely took me on a trip down memory lane with her vivid portrayals of locations, events and people.

As I mentioned previously, the guidebook includes all of the usual, expected and useful sections on geography, history, economy, people, politics, and practical information on when and how to travel and what to do and not to do, as well as extensively researched guide to sights, tastes and sounds of Montenegro. (And yes, I agree with Ms. Rellie that most of Montenegrin music is an acquired taste for Westerners ears... Oh, most definitely so...)

You will even find a section with several very authentic, very tasty recipes for traditional dishes - which made me extremely hungry! If all of that is not adventurous enough for you, Ms. Rellie included information on a side trip to Albania. It does not get much more adventurous as that...

I was quite impressed by the accuracy of spelling throughout the book, especially in view of the fact that the language in Montenegro has been evolving greatly in the last couple of decades. There are some cute misspellings (wrong word for cheese in the glossary...) and some not-so-cute ones (consistent misspelling of the name of the former Yugoslav president...), but overall nothing too distracting.

Well written, well researched, with a selection of wonderful photographs showing a tiny fraction of the natural beauty of Montenegro, this guidebook, "Montenegro," will be of great help to anybody desiring to visit this jewel of a country.