Skip to main content

Travel Reads


It's summer and many of you will be traveling far and wide or to destinations closer to home. Here are some travel-related books to read when you stretch out on that beach chair or during long flights across the Atlantic or heaven forbid, interminable delays at the airport. Happy reading!
Fiction
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Africa
Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Asia
Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea
Peter Hassler, A River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
Paul Theroux, Great Railway Bazaar: By Train through Asia
Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train through China
Pico Iyer, Video Night in Kathmandu

Australia
Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

Europe
Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island
Bill Bryson, Neither here nor there
Frances Mayes, A Year in the World

Panama
David G. McCullough, The Path between the Seas

Memoir
Marlena de Blasi, A Thousand Days in Venice
Marlena de Blasi, A Thousand Days in Tuscany
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love
Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
Peter Mayle, A Year in Provence
Peter Mayle, Toujours Provence
Peter Mayle, Encore Provence

Old World
Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo

Women Write About Their Travel Experience
Seal Press, France, A Love Story
Seal Press, Italy, A Love Story
Seal Press, Mexico, A Love Story

USA
Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

Travel Anthologies
Houghton Mifflin Company, Best American Travel Writing
Travelers Tales, Best Travel Writing Series

Traveler's Life List
Patricia Schultz, 1000 Places to See Before You Die

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by  Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with   Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was...

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called  Kasaysayan ng Maynila  (History of Manila).  The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and...

The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

Church of the Beheading of St. John, Arbore Monastery Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Romania lies the enchanting region of Bucovina, home to a treasure trove of stunning monasteries. The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina, collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are a testament to the region's rich history, spirituality and artistic genius. One of the most visited monasteries in Bucovina is Voronet. It was commissioned by Stefan the Great, Voivode of Moldova and one of its most admired rulers. Moldova was  a medieval state that once encompassed parts of present-day Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova. Voronet  was built in 1488 to commemorate his victory over the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Vaslui and it was miraculously completed in three months time. Succeeding  princes of Moldova continued the construction of more magnificent monasteries. The exterior walls of these structures were adorned with intricate frescoes, depicting biblical scenes, saints, and...