Crete [Paperback]

John Freely (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1990

Freely provides detailed maps and itineraries for extended excursions. Sized to fit with ease into a backpack or a glove box, this useful compendium is suitable for all travelers to that part of the world--Booklist

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR JOHN FREELY'S OTHER WORKSThe Cyclades: Discovering the Greek Islands of the Aegean'A charming and informative companion for anyone exploring these enchanting islands.'Andrew Steed, Stanfords Maps and Travel BooksThe Western Shores of Turkey: Discovering the Aegean and Mediterranean Coasts'...Enchanting guide...a work of genuine scholarship, lightly worn and charmingly conveyed. I fell in love with the book and stayed enamoured until the final page.' Paul Bailey, The Sunday Times'...the record of a journey undertaken by a man effortlessly able to convey in depth the meaning of what he sees.' Marlena Frick, Scotsman, EdinburghStrolling Through Athens'...John Freely's magnificent walking guide to the city.'Anthony Sattin, Book of the Week, Sunday TimesStrolling Through Istanbul'...a classic. The best travel guide to Istanbul' The Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

John Freely joined the US Navy at the age of seventeen, serving with a commando unit in Burma and China during the last year of World War II. He is author of The Western Shores of Turkey (Tauris Parke Paperbacks), Strolling Through Athens (also Tauris Parke Paperbacks), the bestselling Strolling Through Istanbul and The Cyclades (I.B.Tauris).

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: New Amsterdam Books; New edition edition (January 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941533638
• ISBN-13: 978-0941533638
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,274,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Travel > Europe > Greece > Crete

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't imagine a better guide & introduction to Crete, December 4, 2000

By 

jeffergray (Reisterstown, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crete (Paperback)

John Freely is a professional travel writer best known for his several volumes on Istanbul and his "Strolling Through Athens". His volume on Crete hasn't sold as well, because it was brought out by a small publishing house in a not-particularly glossy cover. But it is a work of great charm that reflects Freely's extensive knowledge and his love for the "Great Island." Read it before you travel, and it will inform, inspire, and delight you.

Freely wrote this book while living for several months in the old Venetian port city of Chania in western Crete. One of the main things you will learn in the book is that Cretan history didn't end with the Minoans. Freely covers all the best-known Minoan sites thoroughly, of course, and he will also apprise you of lesser-known but intriguing sites like the mysterious palace at Kato Zakros, the small farming town of Gournia, the necropolis at Armeni, or the Minoan refugee community at Karphi overlooking the Lasithi Plain. But Freely is also excellent on the Venetians and on the various nineteenth-century Cretan revolts against the island's Turkish overlords. He also has a an obvious love for Cretan folkways and traditions.

Freely wrote this book in an engaging first-person style, and he makes for an agreeable companion. He clearly loves the outdoors, particularly hiking and beach-going, and the book is full of excellent recommendations on both. You'll be determined to do the famous hike from the Omalos Plateau through the Samaria Gorge to the south coast after reading Freely's account of his hike through the gorge with his son. Another lesson that Freely clearly teaches is that a traveler to Crete should learn to savor the comparative merits of the island's beaches just as a visitor to England should develop an appreciation of the merits of different cathedrals or country houses. If I hadn't read Freely, I might well not have sought out the beaches at Preveli, Phalasarna, or particularly Elafonisi. The first two were unforgettable, but Elafonisi was in another league altogether: no wonder Freely chose to end this book with a visit there. Let me end this review by quoting from Freely's description of it, which shows his vivid and engaging style:

"This is the most beautiful beach on all of Crete, a long, lagoon-like scimitar of pink-white sand where the waves of the Aegean merge with those of the Libyan Sea, the isle of Elafonisi looking like a South Sea coral reef shimmering in the shallows just offshore, so close that we swam out to it and sat there for an hour. . . . Then we swam back to shore and set up our picnic in the shade of a tamarisk tree, its branches twisted into a Medusa's head of tortured limbs bent back by the terrible Livas -- the Libyan Wind -- the furnace-blast that blows straight across from the sands of Libya over 230 miles of open sea a few days each summer, striking the Great Island here at its most exposed promontory."

The book has useful maps of the Minoan sites and the island's various regions. It doesn't offer much in the way of recommendations for hotels and restaurants, however, so you will need to supplement it with another guide for that.