Syria and Lebanon

by Michael Haag

Book Overview

This guide provides the most comprehensive coverage of Bronze Age sites, Roman ruins, crusader castles, and the jewels of Islamic architecture in Syria. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1860119255
• ISBN13: 9781860119255
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Cadogan Guides
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great detail about Syria, but less about Lebanon

I like this guide for its detail about Syria, but the information about Lebanon is sketchy in comparison. If you plan to visit both countries I recommend getting a separate Lebanon guide in addition to this one. I also agree with another reviewer who said that this guide is less practical than others, such as the Lonely Planet or Rough Guides. Still, it's very well-written and pleasurable to read while you are viewing the sites.

Informed, eye-opening, witty, beautifully written

This is an excellent guide in every practical sense, but it is also something very much more, for it entirely draws you into Syria and Lebanon, it paints them before your eyes and immerses you in their atmosphere, so that like reading a good novel you feel you are actually there. I cannot praise too highly the artistry with which Mr Haag has composed this book, and I thank him for having provided me -- in the person of his guide -- with his knowledgable and most enjoyable company throughout my visit.

This book brought my journey to life

I had never been to Syria or Lebanon before, but when I flicked through Michael Haag's guide at the bookshop my appetite was immediately whetted. The question was whether these countries were really as good as they were made out to be -- and whether the book really worked 'on the ground'. I was not disappointed. Syria especially was marvellous, so full of staggering things to see, beautiful landscapes, charming people. And Michael Haag in his descriptions, his facts, his marvellous writing style, the wide-ranging authority of his knowledge, brought everything to life for me and made this a journey of a lifetime. By the way I used the second edition, published in December 1999.

Please note error

The one existing review of this title refers to the first edition; the second edition, to which you have erroneously appended the review, has not yet been published.

Useful and entertaining, if you also have another guidebook

More comprehensive than the Rough Guide, the Cadogan describes cities and sites with humour and insight. For the confident traveller who is also equipped with another guide (like Let's Go or the Rough Guide, both of which are more informative about places to stay and eat), this is a great book to have along on your jaunt through the Levant.