This is my first ever review. I bought this book without having read any of Mayes' other books because I love all the places she writes about and I thought the cover design was gorgeous! I am so disappinted by the content of the book, however, and see that I am not alone. I find it self-indulgent and boring. Mayes sounds nothing like the well-informed writer I expected her to be. I grew up in Spain and she does not do this country justice by any stretch of the imagination. I would not recommend this book to anyone.