Roads to Santiago: Detours and Riddles in the Lands and History of Spain

Roads to Santiago is Cees Nooteboom's passionate and beautifully written chronicle of Spain - its architecture, art, history, landscapes, villages, and people. Traveling from side road to side road, he discovers a profound and mysterious country not found in standard tourist guides. Nooteboom is continually seduced by an unknown name on a signpost, by what might be seen on the next hill or beyond a distant mountain. His destination may be Santiago de Compostela, but he lingers in Aragon, passes through Granada, dines in Chinchon, and strolls the empty halls of the Prado. His prose, too, takes side roads, lovely digressions, sometimes literary, sometimes political, by turns ironic, erudite, melancholy.