Gatherings from Spain Book

Somewhere I noticed a contemporary travel writer mention this book, and indeed it is is the greatest travel book ever written, and I say so who don't like "travel writing" and am not hugely interested in Spain, and certainly not in traveling there except on business. Ford is not only a Victorian, but an early Victorian - but while the completely pre-railroad, universally servanted world he describes is utterly gone - it was gone 20 years after he wrote - his prose feels completely un-dated, and reading the book on the hateful Kindle where all context disappears into a mush, I sometimes forgot that Ford was oldfashioned when George Eliot was the latest thing. His Spain is recovering from the Napoleonic wars, and suffers from "bad government"; he admires "the Spaniard," he makes wonderful distinctions between the human characters of the different provinces, his advice on choosing a horse is splendid, his description of the virtues and vices of mules and muleteers hilarious - it's a complete delight. If you are traveling somewhere in Spain, it would be a good idea to check what he says about it in his big Spain guidebook; if you are not, like me, this book is completely self-contained and not to be missed.