Rating: 4/5
This was the first travel book I have ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. True that was mostly down to Evelyn Waugh's unfailing wit, but still!
The book is bursting with not only Waugh's intelligent and full knowledge of every landing spot regarding history, art, architecture and culture. However, it is also completely filled with Waugh's sidetracked mind which takes many tangents into his past as well as gossip stories about his fellow travellers! It is a marvel.
Reading the book makes you feel incredibly nostalgic and I hoped that I would wake up in the morning and have gone back in time and be able to book myself onto a cruise! Sure... I know I can do that now... take a cruise but this time period and the destinations that were pretty much untouched by modernity would be missing. It is the sheer elegance of the travelling experience for Waugh that makes the book so fascinating, and the lust to travel with Waugh so appealing.
If you get a chance this book is completely worth the read. It is short at only 169 pages and just a page turner. It doesn't take a lot to get into and you do not have to fully indulge. I was able to skim some sections and still get the gist of it. It is worth the read simply for Waugh who really is a master of words. Everything is so luxuriously described you are there with him every step of the way. He writes like you are in his cabin and listening to his daily account feasting on all the gossip he has overheard.
Brilliance!
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