The ongoing war in Europe has dealt another blow to a global travel industry already crippled by the Covid pandemic. Many would-be travellers, including myself, have had to put their plans on hold again (I have been planning for some time to visit my native Ukraine) and resort instead to vicarious travels using memories, imagination, maps and the internet. As well as guide books, of course.
For many years, E&T has been writing about the multi-award-winning ‘Secret’ series of guide books from the international publisher Jonglez, now based in Berlin. For me, their main time-tested feature is that they are equally useful both for real travellers and for the so-called ‘armchair buccaneers’ – whether voluntary or forced. By pointing out the hidden and little- known features of towns, cities and countries, Jonglez guides can make readers feel like true discoverers. In that, they are continuing the tradition of such classic publishers as Karl Baedeker and...