Roads to Santiago

Roads to Santiago is an evocative travelogue through the sights sounds and smells of a little known Spain-its architecture art history landscapes villages and people. And as much as it is the story of his travels it is an elegant and detailed chronicle of Cees Nooteboom's thirty-five-year love affair with his adopted second country. He presents a world not visible to the casual tourist by invoking the great spirits of Spain's past-El Cid Cervantes Alfonso the Chaste and Alfonso the Wise the ill-fated Hapsburgs and Velázquez. Be it a discussion of his trip to the magnificent Prado Museum or his visit to the shrine of the Black Madonna of Guadalupe Nooteboom writes with the depth and intelligence of an historian the bravado of an adventurer and the passion of a poet. Reminiscent of Robert Hughes's Barcelona Roads to Santiago is the consummate portrait of Spain for all readers.<br>