By Rick Steves, author of Europe Through the Back Door and thirty other European travel guidebooks
The best way to see a city is not just on foot … but on foot with a good guide. A local person who lives in a great city can shine a light on its soul. Where I come from, you can wander lanes and parks, and gaze at balconies and street signs, and there’s little to say. But in a city like London, movers and shakers of Western Civilisation walked the cobbles, sipped beer in snugs, and shaped our past.
London lends itself to walks as well as any city in Europe. It’s a city of towns and villages which grew together while maintaining their personality quirks. It’s a city still roamed by the spirits of Romans and the proud Celts they put down. It’s a city that inspired literary greats. It’s a city that stood up to a battering in the darkness of the Second World War and refused to break. And, it’s a city that confounds tourists without a guide.
For twenty years, as a visiting and curious and sometimes overwhelmed traveller, I have enjoyed David Tucker and his band of London guides. Each has a passion that carbonates the slice of London they share. And they have helped me appreciate the many facets of their city.
Now, with this collection of essays, these guides take their gift to travellers and amplify it so that we can all, wherever we are, sit back and enjoy a little slice of one of our world’s great cities.