Charles FitzRoy Livres

This entertaining and informative guide takes you on a journey back to 1750 and the era of the Grand Tour, when Istanbul was a favorite destination for enterprising travelers, a city of excitement, intrigue, and mystery. Be inspired by the magnificent palaces and sublime mosques of the Ottomans and by the great artistic and architectural achievements of the Byzantines who preceded them. Gain access to the opulent and heavily guarded Topkapi Palace. Be a guest in the houses of the locals, accompany them to the luxurious baths, and relax with them in coffeehouses. Barter with tradesmen in the bustling bazaars, enjoy spectacular festivals, and take pleasure trips up the Bosphorus. Along the way you will encounter a colorful cast of characters, ranging from the sultan and his harem, the grand vizier, other-worldly eunuchs, and swaggering janissaries to ambassadors, merchants, whirling dervishes, women hidden behind their veils, and a splendid array of nationalities from every corner of the Ottoman Empire and Europe.

Offers the practical advice you need for a journey back to the golden age of one of Europe's great cultural cities. This book is suitable for travellers, museum-goers and those who wonder what it would really have been like to visit this model of Renaissance culture.

Ignoring the main cities of Florence, Venice, Rome, and Naples - all of them inundated with hordes of tourists - travel consultant Charles FitzRoy leads the reader on a breathtaking journey across rural Italy, through its remote villages and towns, to the heart of its cultural the inimitable grandeur of its art, seen here in the setting in which it was originally created.Divided geographically into four areas of outstanding interest - Tuscany and northern Lazio, the Veneto and Friuli, Umbria and the Marche, Sicily - Italy Revealed provides twenty-one remarkable itineraries, each designed to take no more than a day or two. From the Palladian villas of the north to the Norman churches of the south, through low-lying plains, rolling hills, and the jagged volcanic mountains of Sicily, each tour leads the traveller out into the exquisite reaches of the Italian countryside. And FitzRoy offers a host of invaluable tips on how to get around and where to sample the best local fare, as well as a treasure trove of historical facts about the artists, their patrons, and the villages that have been transformed by their genius.