What books/guidebooks for Greece?
Oct 22nd, 2013, 08:20 PM
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What books/guidebooks for Greece?
I promise, this will by my last new thread for a bit. What guidebook(s) are best for Greece? I already have Eyewitness, not exactly a guidebook, and it appears to be totally unsatisfactory. What other books should I read? I'm interested in serious substance as well more imaginative material.
Oct 22nd, 2013, 09:10 PM
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Others may disagree, but of recent years, here are my recommends:
• ROUGH GUIDE to GREECE -- the best over-all. RG actually pays its researchers to go to its destinations (in contrast to another biggie, which had a scandal where the guidebook to Columbia was written without the writer ever going there!). RG has an EXCELLENT historical background chapter, plus terffic language section. Maps are clear and detailed ... lots of dtail on ancient sites. Each of the above, plus each Island group and major Mainland area (i.e. Peloponnese) has its own section. And RG is laid out so you can (carefully) pull each section off the back, bind the spines with silver (duct) tape and Voila! Little Guide-ettes for your pocket. This way u can leave the biggie book at home, or at least in your hotel. NOTE: I actually like the 2008 edition better than the 2012; others agree. RG wanted to add color pix, and to fit htem in, cut a lot of text. Unless u want the most uptodate hotel prices, 2008 fine in other respects. Available cheap on Amazon. I've tested RG in Pelops, Cyclades, Crete, N.E. Aegean; all good.
• RICK STEVES "Athens & Peloponnese" (Really its Athens, and a dab of the peloponnese). I'd get this from the library & photocopy the Athens walk sections & the step-by-step DIY guide to Acropolis (Unless u have a smartphone & you can download ditto free). Also photocopy the DIY walk around Nafplio if u are going there.
• GREEK ISLAND HOPPING - by T. Cook Company. This book is the Bible about hopping via ferry, very easy to understand linkages, lots of info about cheap lodgings, food, partying for the 20s crowd in high season. Very little historical content. Get it from library, photocopy whatever appeals.
• CADOGAN GUIDES to PELOPONNESE & the GREEK ISLES. RG provides practicalities Plus history; RS provides walkng guide. Cadogan Guides provide... the Magic. These are for bedside table in months before u go ... full of ambience, history and wonderful prose. This led me to wonderful days on west coast of Peloponnese ... and other treasured discoveries.
• BLUE GUIDES -- Lots of UK folks & Academics swear by these, certainly the MOST detailed about ancient sites. Browse them from the Library before deciding to buy. I've had them on my shelf a while -- they aren't about current hotels & restaurants.
BACKGROUND BOOKS
MARY RENAULT novels (Available paperback online, new & used): still the gold standard. Based on impeccable research, linked to wonderful writing, serious fiction not potboilers, yet real page-turners. Titles include: Last of the Wine (Athens golden era), The King Must Die, (mythic-era Crete), Mask of Apollo and The Praise Singer (dawn of drama & poetry, thru adventures of actors, performers). In fact one of the leading ancient Greek history professors in the US today, Jeremy McInerny of U. Of Pennsylvania, tells classes, if you really want to grasp the feeling of Ancient Greece society ... just read Renault.
RHODES -- "The Shadow of God" -- Anthony Goodman ... historical fiction about the Ottoman Siege of Rhodes in 1500s. Style is awkward (author is a US M.D. who became a huge Rhodes history buff), but it does depict vividly perhaps one of the dramatic & bloody sieges in history, makes Rhodes Old Town ramparts even more memorable for modern visitors.
RHODES -- Reflections on a Marine Venus , Lawrence Durell. Practically nothing today is the same as in this 1948 book of his time there in the service ... but it's magical all the same.
• ROUGH GUIDE to GREECE -- the best over-all. RG actually pays its researchers to go to its destinations (in contrast to another biggie, which had a scandal where the guidebook to Columbia was written without the writer ever going there!). RG has an EXCELLENT historical background chapter, plus terffic language section. Maps are clear and detailed ... lots of dtail on ancient sites. Each of the above, plus each Island group and major Mainland area (i.e. Peloponnese) has its own section. And RG is laid out so you can (carefully) pull each section off the back, bind the spines with silver (duct) tape and Voila! Little Guide-ettes for your pocket. This way u can leave the biggie book at home, or at least in your hotel. NOTE: I actually like the 2008 edition better than the 2012; others agree. RG wanted to add color pix, and to fit htem in, cut a lot of text. Unless u want the most uptodate hotel prices, 2008 fine in other respects. Available cheap on Amazon. I've tested RG in Pelops, Cyclades, Crete, N.E. Aegean; all good.
• RICK STEVES "Athens & Peloponnese" (Really its Athens, and a dab of the peloponnese). I'd get this from the library & photocopy the Athens walk sections & the step-by-step DIY guide to Acropolis (Unless u have a smartphone & you can download ditto free). Also photocopy the DIY walk around Nafplio if u are going there.
• GREEK ISLAND HOPPING - by T. Cook Company. This book is the Bible about hopping via ferry, very easy to understand linkages, lots of info about cheap lodgings, food, partying for the 20s crowd in high season. Very little historical content. Get it from library, photocopy whatever appeals.
• CADOGAN GUIDES to PELOPONNESE & the GREEK ISLES. RG provides practicalities Plus history; RS provides walkng guide. Cadogan Guides provide... the Magic. These are for bedside table in months before u go ... full of ambience, history and wonderful prose. This led me to wonderful days on west coast of Peloponnese ... and other treasured discoveries.
• BLUE GUIDES -- Lots of UK folks & Academics swear by these, certainly the MOST detailed about ancient sites. Browse them from the Library before deciding to buy. I've had them on my shelf a while -- they aren't about current hotels & restaurants.
BACKGROUND BOOKS
MARY RENAULT novels (Available paperback online, new & used): still the gold standard. Based on impeccable research, linked to wonderful writing, serious fiction not potboilers, yet real page-turners. Titles include: Last of the Wine (Athens golden era), The King Must Die, (mythic-era Crete), Mask of Apollo and The Praise Singer (dawn of drama & poetry, thru adventures of actors, performers). In fact one of the leading ancient Greek history professors in the US today, Jeremy McInerny of U. Of Pennsylvania, tells classes, if you really want to grasp the feeling of Ancient Greece society ... just read Renault.
RHODES -- "The Shadow of God" -- Anthony Goodman ... historical fiction about the Ottoman Siege of Rhodes in 1500s. Style is awkward (author is a US M.D. who became a huge Rhodes history buff), but it does depict vividly perhaps one of the dramatic & bloody sieges in history, makes Rhodes Old Town ramparts even more memorable for modern visitors.
RHODES -- Reflections on a Marine Venus , Lawrence Durell. Practically nothing today is the same as in this 1948 book of his time there in the service ... but it's magical all the same.
Oct 22nd, 2013, 09:24 PM
#4
Patrick Leigh Fermor is one of those writers, I think, in a class all his own. I've read several but not these 2 yet, about Greece: 'Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese' & 'Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece'.
The postumous last volume about his walk across Europe as a young man will be out soon, in March I think, and might interest you too: The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos
The postumous last volume about his walk across Europe as a young man will be out soon, in March I think, and might interest you too: The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos
Oct 23rd, 2013, 01:24 AM
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http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ebook%20greece shows you what's available at decent prices.
If you are interested in only 1 region of Greece, you may load down the correspending chapter of the Lonely Planet guidebook.
If you are interested in only 1 region of Greece, you may load down the correspending chapter of the Lonely Planet guidebook.
Oct 23rd, 2013, 02:38 AM
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1 Matt's pick Travelers Greece: Memories of an Enchanted Land is an anthology of travel writing by John Tomkinson of over 100 visitors to Greece spanning a period of more than 3 centuries, from the late 16th to the early 20th
Oct 23rd, 2013, 06:27 AM
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In our trip to Greece in 9/13 we took 5 guides, RG, LP, Fodors, Frommer and Rick Steves. How's that for overpacking? I think that if I had to take 1 it would be the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet. Rick Steves basically plots one trip in each country and it is only useful if you stay on that itinerary. Frommers has a section of the top sites in each country which I like. Rough guide is great because if you get a little off the beaten path, they have something on every place in the country. I check all of them for restaurants. I usually look up hotels on booking.com and then check them out on trip advisor and in the books. The books I use for restaurants and since we are not looking for gourmet dining experiences we will use Trip advisor and the RG or LP and sometimes Frommers and Fodors.
We may be a little confused, but we seem unable to follow Rick Steves walks in big cities and lose it after the 2nd or 3rd stop.
We may be a little confused, but we seem unable to follow Rick Steves walks in big cities and lose it after the 2nd or 3rd stop.
