Europe From a Backpack series travel books have just published Italy From a Backpack and Spain From a Backpack. This is how the publishers describe the Europe Backpack books: despite their numbers, few, if any travel books have told their stories. Now, we have collected the best from more than 1,000 submissions.

They cover a wide range – changing one’s life on the 600-mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage (“To Be a Pilgrim”), throwing 90,000 pounds of tomatoes at Buñol, in Europe’s biggest food fight (“Tomato Fight!”); sneaking past Vatican guards to view Michelangelo’s Pietà (“Sneaking Into St. Peter’s”); meeting the forebears at their luxury hotel in Sicily (“The Old Country”). Some are thoughtful (“Off the Map”), some ridiculous (“The Curse of the Tassled Loafers” and “Hostage of the Hostile Hostel”) and some sublime (“What I Learned About Coleoptera By Having a Few Climb Up My Shorts”).

Free Book Offer: If you can’t make up your mind between the Italy and Spain book, just buy them both.
E-mail your receipt from Amazon.com, Bn.com, or Powells.com and we will send you a book of your choice (Italy, Spain, or Europe) for free. Deadline is Jan. 15, 2007. EuropeBackpack@aol.com