Before they left I was looking for a travel guidebook to help them plan their stay.
I was delighted to find a guide that was very different from any other guides I have seen before.
The Slow Guides series are for anyone who seeks traveling in a different phase and who loves to settle in and feel the place they visit, its rhythm, people, culture and heritage rather than run and try to catch all that is new and trendy.
In the publisher's words: "The Slow Guides are for anyone who wants to slow down and live it up, seachange without changing their postcode. They celebrate everything, as long as it is local, natural, traditional, sensory and most of all gratifying about living in Sydney".
I love the chapters of the Be category that are titled according to the five senses; See, Hear, Smell, Taste and my favorite - Touch.
When was the last time you'd opened a travel guidebook and it suggested you to smell your destination?
"Give me spots on the apples but leave me the birds and the bees" (Joni Mitchell)
Well, The Sydney Slow Travel guide has got a whole chapter titled: "SMELL - Scents and Local Sensibility". Here you'll find Sydney's seasonal scents such as the dusty smell of smoke on January's hot summer, the blooming flowers at the Blue Mountains' gardens in September and the smell of wet earth and clean air after a downpour in November.
The Taste chapter starts with some interesting notes on the Slow Food movement and than provides many many good advices for the wonderful seasonal foods you can find in the local markets along with traditional 'slow' places to enjoy a relaxing dine out.
The book's design is another great success. It is so simple yet charming.
The beautiful photographs by Oliver Strewe are all black and white and are heart-warming and graceful. The blue color addition on the cover and some of the pages make it relaxing and pleasant to look at. Unlike most of the other travel guides which are glossy and make you dizzy with so much information and photos, this small one is clean and clear and above all, has something in it which feels authentic and natural.
This guidebook is much more than a travel bookguide - it is a photographic journey, an inspirational companion and a book you'll love to have whether this is your first or tenth time in Sydney.
More about the Slow Guide in the great interview with Martin Hughes - the 'father' of the Slow Guides, at the article "Stop ... and smell the roses" on Sydney Morning Herald.
*** All photos from The Slow Guide: Sydney, copyright © 2007 by Affirm Press.
Written by Helen Hawkes, Leta Keens, Photographed by Oliver Strewe.
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