He cannot pass by a cathedral or a church without describing it at length and in excruciating detail. He tells us more than we can possibly want to know about every single one he visits - and he makes extraordinary efforts to visit even the remotest chapel rumoured to exist at the end of some heat-blasted track on some frying-pan plain. [see photo p.183]. A glance at the list of illustrations shows this. For me, his obsession [a word I think even he uses] with church buildings became tedious and the relief at the quality of the writing about his own view of Spain beyond this obsession became more and more welcome as the book progressed. I found it increasingly difficult to plough through yet another weighty passage on yet another cathedral, hoping and waiting for him to break free into the fresh air of the Spain beyond the church door and his insights into Spainish literature and culture. In the end, finishing the book was a struggle: the sheer bulk of all that ecclesiastical description had worn me down.

If none of the above appeals, then, don't worry. It did not appeal to me before I picked up this book. Nooteboom will engender in the reader a positive experience that will linger with them for many years to come. Now, I want to go to Spain.