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Title: Serbia, 2nd (Bradt Travel Guide)
ISBN: 1841622036
Author:
Laurence Mitchell
Publicate Date: 2007-10-01
Publish: 2007-10-01
List Price: $24.99
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $13.76
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.49
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.49
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Indispensable guide to Serbia
I purchased this guide book when I found out I would be visiting Serbia for business, mostly because it was the only guide to Serbia in English I could find. I was pleasantly surprised at the cultural background, political and social context, and historical perspective that this book provided. Before I even stepped on Serbian soil, I had a sense of what mysteries I was in store to explore. Repeatedly in my week visiting half of Serbia, my hosts would remark how I knew of little-known tidbits about this town, or that restaurant. Very impressive first impression and makes me want to check out other Bradt guides. If you're visiting Serbia, this is a MUST HAVE.
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2: 2nd edition of the best guidebook for Serbia: more informative, more correct and more interesting!
In the 2nd edition of his already excellent guidebook L. Mitchell has given a considerably enlarged, significantly improved and fully updated story about the country where I work as a licensed tourist guide and therefore I thought I knew it best.
To my surprise, I was able to discover in this book not only a great deal of practical information mainly useful for visitors and tourists alike, but also some really amazing, less known and unfamiliar stories about the country and its people.
The 2nd edition included expanded coverage on various background topics, such as Serbian cinema, literature and music, with boxes on Serbian personalities in these fields (for instance, Emir Kusturica or Ceca, an extravagant Balkan diva) as well as popular festivals like the annual Guca Trumpet Festival and EXIT. Many more boxes on subjects as diverse as the narrow gauge 'Sargan Eight' railway and curiosities like the 'Kremna Prophecies' and the 'Wild Man of Fruska Gora'. However, one of my favorite boxes is `Rocky comes to rescue of Serbian village' which really gives additional flavor to what is generally known or percieved about the Serbian mentality.
More information are also given on natural history and National Parks in Serbia.
I noticed as well that the author extended the listings, now including many of the new restaurants, cafes and bars and low-cost hostels that have opened for business in Belgrade in the last couple of years, along with privately run mid-range, luxury (`boutique') and hotels in the capital and beyond. Belgrade has recently become the capital of night life in the Balkans, attracting lots of young visitors from every corner of the world, and this fully annotated list will help them discover all the variety of day and night entertainment in Belgrade.
Finally, an improved and correct use of Serbian terms (including some given in Cyrillic script with no mistakes) would be of special help to foreign visitors.
Even if you are in possession of the 1st edition of the book, I would recommend that you buy the new one. It's much more informative than previous, has more correct information of any kind, offers a new design and is supplied with more photographs. And most of all, you are going to really enjoy reading it as a new book!
This edition deserves congratulations and will hopefully have many readers. Some of them will no doubt be inspired by the book to visit Serbia and check everything personally.
P.S. Bradt's "Serbia" is an excellent example of contemporary and INTERPRETIVE travel guides and as such it encourages a meaning-making process whereby you are able to make sense of Serbia, its life, culture and people. This is why this book stands out from other available titles. However, if you are only interested in statistical facts and figures, you might consider buying any other ordinary guidebook.
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