Customer Reviews

Eyewitness Travel Guide to Greece: Athens and the Mainland

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a first time traveller to Athens in 1999 I was looking for a guide beyond the usual narrative form of most guides. I wanted to see in advance where everything was and what everything had to offer so that I could make many of my choices in advance. A particular benefit of the guide is that it shows the actual location of significant artefacts within particular museums. This is most useful if time is short.The extensive detail provided on surviving in Athens prepares you well for the challenges ahead. The true test of a travel guide must surely be its value in the field. The only time I got lost in Athens was one afternoon when I forgot to put the guide in my backpack.Based on my experience with the Athens guide I have already purchased the equivalent guides for Rome and Paris.

I am seriously toying with the idea of taking a trip to Athens (so I can teach my on-line mythology course from the Acropolis) so I spent some time looking through various travel guides. When it comes to illustrations and graphics, none of the dozen I looked at can compete with this volume from DK Publishers. Of course, if you are familiar with any of the books from DK then you are already well aware that they have made their reputation providing visually stunning volumes. When I first flipped through this book I kept thinking it was a picture book and not a travel guide, and then I wondered why anybody would even need to go to Greece after looking at all of this.

The guide is divided into six sections: (1) Introducing Athens and Mainland Greece; (2) Ancient Greece, which includes historical, culture and mythological details; (3) Athens Area by Area; (4) Mainland Greece Area by Area; (5) Travelers' Needs, which covers where to stay and where to eat; and a (6) Survival Guide of practical and travel information, including a phrase book. You can go through the pages provided above to see exactly how things are laid out. Note: DK has a separate travel guide devoted to the Greek Islands.

I will not contend that this is the only travel guide you would need to plan your trip and/or go to Greece. There are several other travel guides that provide considerably more detail in terms of lodgings and restaurants. However, I would suggest that this is the travel guide you want to take with you while doing sightseeing; the other one can sit in your car, backpack, or whatever. For example, there is a diagram of a Byzantine church that provides more architectural detail than you would ever need to know. Other reviewers, who have actually used this book in Greece, have commented on how a lot of things are not marked in English, which made this volume particularly helpful. That is certainly good to know. However, at this point I am using it to figure out how to maximum the time I would spend there and where else to go besides Athens (obviously Delphi is the other must see place and then, probably, Mycenea).

.... The guides to the museums and the maps of the ancient sites are so helpful, especially in Greece, where things are not always marked in English. The pictures are beautiful, and make the book a wonderful souvenir of your journey. The historical explanations are clear, concise and interesting to read. The maps are excellent and accurate! My only complaint is that it doesn't give specific information about recreation places, like where the best places for swimming are. Also, it's coverage on hotels and restaurants was limited, but this was not a problem for us since it gave us all the information we needed to know. Overall, it is a great little book.

This book is a visual treat, but unfortunately doesn't have a wealth of information on hotels and restaurants and is woefully lacking history/archaeological information.

Very good dimensional illustrations, very good city maps with easy references from info entries. Would like to have more restaurant/lodging info and better directions on how to get from city to city. Advance planning not always effective because routes could not be easily determined. Talking to local inhabitants was easy and probably best part of journey but we could have had the same experience without being frustrated.

This book has great information about attractions, with nice pictures and diagrams, as well as hours of operation and bus stop info. I really like it, but I also need another more comprehensive travel guide such as Rough Guide for detailed info on hotels and such.

I was expecting much more form this otherwise outstanding series. However, the goods end with Athens and the Peloponnese and very little research is done on the rest 2/3 of the country! So 3 stars for the piece. "Northern Greece" is exceptionally disappointing! Take a look at page 233 "The name Macedonia derives from Makednoi, one of the tribes [what tribes?] who first inhabited the region in the late 4th century." Later on... in reference to the Macedonian kings, it says: (p242) "Philip II was from a long line of Macedonian kings that begun in about 640 BC with Perdiccas I." Well... which one is it... late 4th century BC or early 6th BC?" This edition is the negative to the success of the Greek Islands version. I hope a new one will clear up the shame!