Geography and Travel writing

One of my favourite sections in any bookshop is "travel writing". Good, descriptive writing can really evoke a sense of place, and stir the pangs of wanderlust. Reading can add depth to your geographical knowledge and put textbook notes and diagrams into context. Among my particular favourites is "A Time of Gifts" by Patrick Leigh Fermour. Written with a zest for language, culture, literature, history and geography, this is an account of a young man's journey -on foot-from the Hook of Holland to Isanbul in the 1930s, through a Europe that was to change for ever with the rise of facism and the onset of war. The prose verges on the purple at times, but it's an excellent read. It would be interesting to hear what others regard as their favourite travel writing!