Walking London is the essential companion for any urban explorer―visitor or native―committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world's greatest capital cities. In 30 original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan reveals miles of London's endlessly surprising landscape. From wild heathland to formal gardens, cobbled mews to elegant squares and arcades, bustling markets to tranquil villages―Duncan reveals the pick of the famous sights, but also steers walkers off the tourist track and into the city's hidden corners. Handsomely illustrated with specially commissioned color photographs and complete route maps, the book provides full details of addresses, opening times and the best bars and restaurants to visit en route.
These 30 walks unveil nearly 100 miles of London's great variety of landscape - formal gardens and wild heathland; cobbled mews and narrow alleyways; elegant squares and arcades; royal palaces and country houses; docks, canals, lakes and rivers; bustling markets and tranquil villages. The text not only describes each route, but anticipates and explains puzzling features, both historical and contemporary, which the walker will encounter. Detailed maps indicate the precise location of historic sites, buildings and other landmarks, and opening times are given for places which are open to the public, together with information on all forms of public transport. There are also recommendations for suitable refreshment and sustenance breaks.
Walking London is the essential companion for any urban explorer—visitor or native—committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world's greatest capital cities. In 30 original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan reveals miles of London's endlessly surprising landscape. From wild heathland to formal gardens, cobbled mews to elegant squares and arcades, bustling markets to tranquil villages—Duncan reveals the pick of the famous sights, but also steers walkers off the tourist track and into the city's hidden corners. Handsomely illustrated with specially commissioned color photographs and complete route maps, the book provides full details of addresses, opening times and the best bars and restaurants to visit en route.
London is a great city for walking, whether for pleasure, exercise or simply to get from A to B. Despite the city's extensive transport system, walking is also often the quickest way to get around − at least in the centre − and it's also free and healthy! London has grown organically over 2,000 years rather than being planned logically like some modern cities (such as New York). As a result many attractions are off the beaten track, away from the major thoroughfares and public transport hubs. This favours waking as the best way to explore the city, which contains a wealth of interesting sights in every 'nook and cranny'.
Every year, some 200,000 people set out on the world's most famous pilgrimage route - 'the Camino', designated a World Heritage Site in 1993. Actually a network of paths with numerous starting places in France and throughout Europe, all routes converge to lead along Spain's northern coast to Santiago de Compostela. Here the shrine of St James, the patron saint of pilgrimage, was discovered in the 9th century. 2010 is designated as a Holy Year for Santiago and this guide is co-published with the Confraternity of St James, the UK's leading organisation for promoting pilgrimage to Santiago. Already the preferred guide for German and Spanish pilgrims, this new English edition will be widely welcomed and officially recommended. A mix of practical information and spiritual inspiration for walkers, it offers a stage-by-stage guide pointing out places of interest along the way; practical tips for walkers; prayers, blessings and spiritual exercises to nourish the pilgrim spirit and deepen the pilgrimage experience. It is Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs and is conveniently pocket sized.
'The perfect guide to the hidden history of London's streets.' BBC History Magazine In Cruickshank's London, Britain's favourite architectural historian describes thirteen walks through one of the greatest cities on earth. From the mysterious Anglo-Saxon origins of Hampstead Heath, via Christopher Wren's magisterial City churches, to the industrial bustle of Victorian Bermondsey, each walk explores a crucial moment in our history - and reveals how it helped forge the modern city. Along the way, Cruickshank peppers the book with vivid photographs, sketches and maps, so you can immediately follow in his footsteps. Every street in London contains a story. This book invites you to hear them. ___ 'An inspiringly illustrated guide to walks across London . . . It proves how much we can miss if we don't pay close attention to our surroundings.' Country Life 'All power to Cruickshank and his intrepid and knowledgeable kind. We need them.' Times Literary Supplement
Discover the women who shaped London through the centuries and the legacy they left behind. Self-guided walking tours explore the places associated with important women who left their mark on London's heritage, culture and society.
The first English translation of a lost classic that reinvents the flaneur in Berlin. Franz Hessel (1880–1941), a German-born writer, grew up in Berlin, studied in Munich, and then lived in Paris, where he moved in artistic and literary circles. His relationship with the fashion journalist Helen Grund was the inspiration for Henri-Pierre Roche's novel Jules et Jim (made into a celebrated 1962 film by Francois Truffaut). In collaboration with Walter Benjamin, Hessel reinvented the Parisian figure of the flaneur. This 1929 book—here in its first English translation—offers Hessel's version of a flaneur in Berlin. In Walking in Berlin, Hessel captures the rhythm of Weimar-era Berlin, recording the seismic shifts in German culture. Nearly all of the essays take the form of a walk or outing, focusing on either a theme or part of the city, and many end at a theater, cinema, or club. Hessel deftly weaves the past with the present, walking through the city's history as well as its neighborhoods. Even today, his walks in the city, from the Alexanderplatz to Kreuzberg, can guide would-be flaneurs. Walking in Berlin is a lost classic, known mainly because of Hessel's connection to Benjamin but now introduced to readers of English. Walking in Berlin was a central model for Benjamin's Arcades Project and remains a classic of “walking literature” that ranges from Surrealist perambulation to Situationist “psychogeography.” This MIT Press edition includes the complete text in translation as well as Benjamin's essay on Walking in Berlin, originally written as a review of the book's original edition. “An absolutely epic book, a walking remembrance.” —Walter Benjamin
