Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet's staff, authors, and online community, it presents a year's worth of inspiration to take travelers out of the ordinary and into the unforgettable - firmly setting the travel agenda for 2018.As self-confessed travel geeks, our staff collectively rack up hundreds of thousands of miles each year, exploring almost every destination on the planet. And every year, we ask ourselves: Where are the best places in the world to visit right now? It's a very hotly contested topic at Lonely Planet and dominates more discussion than any other. Best in Travel 2018 is our definitive answer.Now in a larger, hardback format, it makes for the perfect gift!Inside, you'll discover the:Top ten countries, regions and citiesBest value destinationsBest culture trips for familiesBest new openings and experiencesBest new places to stayTop destination races, from walks and marathons to cycles and swimsTop vegetarian and vegan destinationsTop small-ship expedition cruisesBest places for cross-generational family tripsBest private islands that everyone can useAbout Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. Lonely Planet content can be found online, on mobile, video, and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks and more.TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) 0207This annual bestseller ranks the hottest, must-visit countries, regions and cities for 2018. Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet's staff, authors and online community, it presents a year's worth of inspiration to take travelers out of the ordinary and into the unforgettable - firmly setting the travel agenda for the year ahead.0802"Where to go? What to do? Why do it? All good questions, and all the answers are in this guidebook from the travel media company Lonely Planet, which clues you in on all the “must-visit” countries, regions and cities for the upcoming year. Lonely Planet’s staff of travel experts puts you on the trail of hidden-jewel journeys and offers tips on subjects such as best values, cultural trips, new accommodations, vegetarian and vegan eateries, value cruises and island resorts."Las Vegas Review Journal2017100401http://media.lonelyplanet.com/onix-fe... Planet0101GOODREPRUSLonely Planet Global Limitedhttp://www.lonelyplanet.comIE08201710... AI AR AW BB BL BM BO BR BS BZ CA CL CO CR CU DM DO EC FK GD GF GL GP GT GY HN HT JM KN KY LC MF MQ MS MX NI PA PE PM PR PY SR SV TC TT US UY VC VE VG VI018.27in026.71in030.73in081.235lb01210mm02170.5mm0318.5mm08.56kg03159781786571151BBLONELY PLANET (AMERICAS)US41160102Lonely PlanetTrade17.99USDUSZ

    At the age of twenty-four he fell passionately in love with sixteen-year-old Giustiniana Wynne, the beautiful, illegitimate daughter of a Venetian mother and British father. Because of their dramatically different positions in society, they could not marry. And Giustiniana’s mother, afraid that an affair would ruin her daughter’s chances to form a more suitable union, forbade them to see each other. Her prohibition only fueled their desire and so began their torrid, secret seven-year-affair, enlisting the aid of a few intimates and servants (willing to risk their own positions) to shuttle love letters back and forth and to help facilitate their clandestine meetings. Eventually, Giustiniana found herself pregnant and she turned for help to the infamous Casanova–himself infatuated with her. Two and half centuries later, the unbelievable story of this star-crossed couple is told in a breathtaking narrative, re-created in part from the passionate, clandestine letters Andrea and Giustiniana wrote to each other.

    We have been constrained by unwritten rules not to do so, by the robes of tradition and by the sanctity of our exclusive calling...But I feel it is time to speak out."Celebrated as the most successful geisha of her generation, Mineko Iwasaki was only five years old when she left her parents' home for the world of the geisha. For the next twenty-five years, she would live a life filled with extraordinary professional demands and rich rewards. She would learn the formal customs and language of the geisha, and study the ancient arts of Japanese dance and music. She would enchant kings and princes, captains of industry, and titans of the entertainment world, some of whom would become her dearest friends. Through great pride and determination, she would be hailed as one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, and one of the last great practitioners of this now fading art form.In Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki tells her story, from her warm early childhood, to her intense yet privileged upbringing in the Iwasaki okiya (household), to her years as a renowned geisha, and finally, to her decision at the age of twenty-nine to retire and marry, a move that would mirror the demise of geisha culture. Mineko brings to life the beauty and wonder of Gion Kobu, a place that "existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mission and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past." She illustrates how it coexisted within post-World War II Japan at a time when the country was undergoing its radical transformation from a post-feudal society to a modern one."There is much mystery and misunderstanding about what it means to be a geisha. I hope this story will help explain what it is really like and also serve as a record of this unique component of Japan's cultural history," writes Mineko Iwasaki. Geisha, a Life is the first of its kind, as it delicately unfolds the fabric of a geisha's development. Told with great wisdom and sensitivity, it is a true story of beauty and heroism, and of a time and culture rarely revealed to the Western world.

    During his life he created numerous works of art and kept voluminous notebooks that detailed his artistic and intellectual pursuits.The collection of writings and art in this magnificent book are drawn from his notebooks. The book organizes his wide range of interests into subjects such as human figures, light and shade, perspective and visual perception, anatomy, botany and landscape, geography, the physical sciences and astronomy, architecture, sculpture, and inventions. Nearly every piece of writing throughout the book is keyed to the piece of artwork it describes.The writing and art is selected by art historian H. Anna Suh, who provides fascinating commentary and insight into the material, making Leonardo's Notebooks an exquisite single-volume compendium celebrating his enduring genius.

    Driven by an insatiable desire to rise above his station and fueled by a nobility that scorns him, Vincenzo sacrifices family and love to transform his tiny spice shop into a trading empire. The name, Florio, soon instills fear and respect. The men of the family are stubborn, arrogant, philanderers and slaves to passions. Paolo shrewdly fights his way out of an earthquake-striken Bagnara to start anew in Sicily. Ignazio II rejects his one true love to fulfill his destiny as the head of a trading empire. Not to be outdone by the men, the Florio women unapologetically demand their place outside the restraints of caring mothers, alluring mistresses, or wounded wives. Giula, though only a mistress, is fiercely intelligent and wins over politicians and businessmen alike. Angelina, born a bastard, charts her own future against the wishes of her father.In this epic yet intimate tale of power, passion, and revenge, the rise and fall of a family taps into the universal desire to become more than who we are born as.

     Over the course of just two hundred years, the Ottoman Empire grew from a small, obscure Anatolian state into the most powerful Muslim nation in the world, controlling vast swathes of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa. Within the empire science, medicine, technology, and art flourished, and the Ottoman army became one of the most feared and efficient fighting forces in existence. Then came a period of gradual decline. Beset by external enemies and torn apart by conflicting elements inside, over the next three hundred and fifty years the Ottoman Empire lost power, territory, and prestige until it became “the sick man of Europe.” Inside you will read about... ✓ Emergence of the Ottoman Dynasty ✓ The Fall of Constantinople ✓ Selim the Grim and Suleiman the Magnificent ✓ Sultanate of Women ✓ The Crimean War ✓ Decline Until World War I And much more! This is the dramatic story of the rise, fall, and eventual disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, of its conquests and defeats, and of its sultans who ranged from the grandeur of Suleiman the Magnificent to the obsession and confusion of Mustafa the Mad. The story begins with the dream of the first Ottoman sultan, Osman I, in 1300, and ended with the nightmare of the last sultan, Abdulmejid II, in 1922. This is the story of the Ottoman Empire, from beginning to end.