A closer look
Most travel writers describe the landscape; Sybille Bedford mostly described the wine. In the gloomy, ration-starved aftermath of World War II, Bedford embarked on a sun-drenched road trip to Mexico and Southern Europe, armed with a razor-sharp wit and a staggering alcohol tolerance. Her writing completely ignored standard tourist sights in favor of documenting three-hour lunches, terrible roads, and the absolute chaos of mid-century border crossings. She made chronicling hangovers in a foreign country high art.
