Slow Travels in Unsung Spain (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781949643046)

Today I was leaving my familiar little home patch to explore a much wider home...

Slow Travels in Unsung Spain is a warts n' all trip through some of Spain's hidden gems: towns, cities, landscapes and cultural highlights that are typically overlooked by foreign tourists but which the Spanish often keep to themselves.

Against a backdrop of strikes and continuing economic hardship across Spain, the author travels alone by rail and bus, encountering the vibrant heritage of the regions, including a singing Gypsy by an ancient well in remote, unspoilt Extremadura, the creativity and resilience of a gourmet beggar in the big city of Zaragoza and a lone disabled pilgrim going home from the Camino de Santiago after quitting the road.

As well, he discovers intrepid ex-pats who are carving out their own lives away from international communities.

Slow Travels in Unsung Spain is new and fresh because it largely ignores Spain's over-developed coastal resorts and islands, bypassing the standard fare of Spain's beaches and fiestas or clich s around bullfighting, the siesta, and football. Instead the author, uncovers the real heartland where the next future waves of tourism could well be.

Brett Hetherington is a long-time Spanish resident and journalist. His sweet-and-sour travelogue uncovers a deeper Spain that has a rich culture and past, alive and well in these hidden corners of Europe.