EUROPE’S Atlantic Fringe, a fascinating and beautifully illustrated new book by the Rathfarnham author and travel writer, Michael Fewer, was launched recently at an event in the Embassy of Portugal in Donnybrook.
The Ambassador of Portugal, Bernardo Futscher Pereira and the recently-retired Irish Ambassador to Portugal, Anne Webster, both spoke at the launch, as did author Michael Fewer.
Published by Ashfield Press, ‘Europe’s Atlantic Fringe – Exploring the West Coasts of Portugal, Spain and Ireland’ covers the west coasts of Portugal, Spain and Ireland.
Although 10 EU countries have an Atlantic coastline, only three, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, extend significantly into the Atlantic Ocean
From Cape St Vincent in Southern Portugal to Horn Head in northwest Ireland, Fewer describes the people and the places of the Atlantic edge as they are today.
He examines the rich historic and prehistoric heritages that link them, their shared pasts, their similarities and their differences.
It also includes the Peninsular Wars, the Spanish Armada, Marconi’s first trans-Atlantic radio transmission, and the first flight across the Atlantic by Alcock and Brown.
Since his first book was published in 1988, Michael Fewer has written a further 22 books, dealing with matters such as walking, travel, history, architecture and the environment.
His first childrens’ book, the best-selling ‘Naturama’, was published last year. Fewer has also contributed to numerous radio and television programmes, and written many articles over the last three decades on architectural history, travels in Europe, walking, and the environment.
He lives with his wife Teresa in Rathfarnham.
‘Europe’s Atlantic Fringe – Exploring the West Coasts of Portugal, Spain and Ireland’ is priced €25.
