Greece, Athens, & the Mainland (Eyewitness Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Marc Dubin (Author), Esther Labi (Editor)

Book Description

Series: EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE | Publication Date: January 31, 2003

Eyewitness Travel Guides are the original illustrated travel guidebooks-and they're still the best. Since 1993, the Eyewitness brand has established itself as one of the industry leaders, with sales of more than 6.5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Featuring more than 70 worldwide destinations, new titles are being added to the best-selling Eyewitness Travel Guides series each year. In 2003, to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of Eyewitness Travel Guides, DK is re-launching the entire series, fully updated, and with a brand-new look.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'"A pleasurable read with ravishing photography plus maps and plans of supreme quality."' - The Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; Revised edition (January 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789494264
• ISBN-13: 978-0789494269
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Travel > Europe > Greece > Athens

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Travel Guide for what you will NOT see in Greece..., March 14, 2003

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greece, Athens, & the Mainland (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I am taking along the Eyewitness Travel Guide for "Greece: Athens & The Mainland" on our trip to Greece today because it shows us everything we are not going to see (Hang on, this will make sense). These DK volumes pride themselves on being "The guides that show you what others only tell you," being filled with over 1,000 photographs, illustrations, and maps. There are cutaways and floor plans of all the major sites that we are seeing, just as the Parthenon and the monastery of Varlaam. But in a week in Greece there is only so much you can see and if we not have time to visit everything in Athens and are only visiting two of the monasteries of Meteora, then this DK Eyewitness Travel Guide will show us something of what we are missing. There are sections on Ancient Greece and then Area by Area sections on Athens and Mainland Greece, along with a section on Travellers' Needs and a Surival Guide. So all the basic are covered along with the profuse illustrations.

Of course there are also sections on where to eat, where to stay, and how to get around. I especially liked the pages devoted to various types of local cuisine, which shows you what you would find on the classic Greek menu as well as the different type of dishes you should try in Central Greece versus the Peloponese. You can use this guide to scope out what you will find when you visit places like Mycenae, Olympia, and Delphi, but you might want to use it more as a reminder of what you have seen than spoiling some of the ancient treasures in store for you at these sites. For example, "discovering" the golden mask of Agamemnon or the statue of Hermes by Praxiteles might work better as a complete surprise. Then again, you would hate to miss some of these things. Of course, we compromise: I know what there is to see and my wife gets to be surprised. It works for us.

P.S. Back from Greece and everybody wanted to borrow our guidebook. Several are going to pick it up when they get back home because it serves as a nice reminder of what we saw (and what we did not see).

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great overview, but you'll need a more detailed guide, February 11, 2005

By 

AcornMan (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Greece, Athens, & the Mainland (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

The colorful photos and diagrams found in the DK travel books are a big plus for some and a major detraction for others. Personally I think this is a great book to use while making preliminary travel plans because it's very difficult to decide where to go if you can't see pictures of it first. Then once you narrow down your choices you'll want a more comprehensive travel guide, such as the Lonely Planet guides, which contain better maps, travel information, hotels, etc, but which have very few photos. I'm holding off on giving this book 5 stars because it lacks that kind of detail. However, I still pull it off my shelf frequently when I want to look up someplace on the Greek mainland I have not visited before.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book for the tourist hitting the checkmarks..., February 11, 2004

By 

M. Tillman (Maryland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greece, Athens, & the Mainland (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I was sent this book before setting off for Greece (where I spent 3 weeks in Athens and the Peloponnese). I read through it, and it did give me a fairly good understanding of what it was going to be like when I got there. Fortunately, I was not solely dependent on the book for seeing interesting things, as I had several friends to travel with (2 of whom were Greek).

One of the interesting things that I noticed about Greece (being such an ancient country) was that there are various ruins around much of the country, and quite a few in Athens. Many of the locals don't know what specific ruins are, especially when you get far afield from their hometowns. From that perspective, this book does provide a good source of information on what many of the ruins actually are/were.

Also, it has a really good section on how to get around the various sections in Athens, and what items of interest are in each area. I would take note of things that you especially want to see, because you will find that there are statues, objects, ruins and artifacts all over the place, and unless you have some idea of what you are interested in, you can spend days just walking around looking at various objects of very little interest or importance.

As with any foreign country or culture (or even other cities in your own country) you will never get to the really good hole in the wall restaurants and see some of the cooler sites (such as exclusive nightclubs on the coast in Athens) without the help and guidance of a local companion, so don't think for a moment that this book is a replacement for someone who REALLY knows what they are doing.