No comments about Art For Travellers Greece: The Essential Guide To Viewing Art In Greece (Art for Travellers).

No comments about Berlitz Pocket Guide Greece (Berlitz Pocket Guides).

2 comments about Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford Archaeological Guides).

1. The new edition of the Oxford Archeological Guide to Greece (part of a excellent series on various parts of the ancient world)will be useful to any interested visitor to over 100 sites of mainland Greece and to Evia, Aegina and Thassos. The guide includes clear maps and a solid introduction to the history and geography of Greece and offers a clear glossary of deities and important figures. It also contains famous quotes and their explanations to add dimension to sites which have been mentioned by classical authors.



2. This guide doesn't cover as much territory as the "Blue Guide Greece", but it generally offers more detailed info on the places it does cover, and you can never have enough info on places to visit when you're touring around a foreign country, so such in-depth coverage of sites is very welcome. This book also includes interesting info on even some well known sites that I've never seen in any other book (and I've read a lot). If you're interested in archaeology you shouldn't visit Greece without this guide; I only wish I'd had it with me the last time I was there.

3 comments about Knopf MapGuide: Prague (Knopf Mapguides).

1. I love this series - small, light, excellent for walking around cities. It organizes information by geographic area and has large, readable maps that make getting around really easy. I use these as a subsitute for a map.
   
   If I'm spending enough time to see a city in depth (as I did in Prague), I bring a "real" guidebook too - in this case, Time Out - but this series will always have a place in my suitcase.
   
   For someone who travels really light, that is the biggest compliment I can bestow!



2. I own 11 of these Knopf MapGuides I find they are perfect for most of the sightseeing on does in major metropolitan areas. The layout, by neighborhood or zone, allows one to save steps and time by not needing to "back-track" when missing a sight. The small-sized booklet makes it easy to use and keep "concealed" when you don't want to look like a "tourist."



3. In some ways, Prague is best approached without a map. The main sector is fairly small, and landmarks like the castle, the river, and the Charles Bridge are easy to find from anywhere, so you can never really get lost. It is easier to find cool things when you don't care where you are going.
   
   Still, if you are in full tourist mode, you want to get where you are going, and finding your way through the tangled web of Prague streets can be a real challenge. Unfolding a huge map not only looks stupid, it is awkward as well. Try walking a crowded street with one open; you only need to do it once before you pitch the big map in the nearest receptacle.
   
   Big maps are bad, but small maps are useless for a city where streets are either a few blocks long, or at least change names every few hundred meters. The Knopf Guide has it both ways. It is small enough to fit into an inner pocket of a blazer. It breaks this fairly small city down into a half-dozen sectors, and covers each with a fold-out map on heavy paper. We used the previous edition for years (the changes are minor, so you'll do fine to buy either edition), and all of the maps are still in great shape.

1 comments about Across the Aegean.

1. If you paint water color or have ever desired to, here is the inspiration you will ever need. I became happily lost admiring each illustration - the color, techniques and her unique style will take you away.....

1 comments about The Mountains of Greece: A Walker's Guide (Cicerone Guide).

1. I don't know exactly when this book was published. The "new" edition I've got says it's completely updated, but when? My main impression is that it must be about 10 years ago at least, and that many, many changes may have taken place in the Greek backcountry since.

   Beware this is a book about hiking for hikers, so it doesn't cover the usual tourist info on Athens, Greek antiquities etc. -and so it should, cos there is plenty of that around. It will not interest you if you are not into hill walking. The introduction is fascinating stuff and still useful. The particular routes are another matter, though. Personally, I find them very difficult to read, and the abbreviations 'R' for right and 'L' for left, which are used systematically, don't make things any better, I think they are an unnecessary nuisance. If I go hiking in Greece I reckon I'll just use a compass and my eyes to find the path. Another warning: although the author claims wild animals are scarce in the Greek hills, I have received reports of wolves in the Agios Merkourios area (near Athens!) and although I did not SEE them myself I have no reason to doubt the reports and I _did_ see a large snake while hiking there, so even if there are very few wild animals left, they might still be too many, depending on the circumstances and one's point of view. Agios Merkourios, by the way, is NOT covered by this guide (and it's a shame, because it is a beautiful hill with thick forest and wonderful views of the island of Evia and the sea beyond). Neither is Mount Kitheronas (on the limit between Attica and Boeotia) which also has great hiking and a numerous population of scorpions. Take an antidote when camping, they are nocturnal. And my last complaint is the transcription system used for the Greek names, which I find rather uncomfortable and excessively English; I really wish he had kept them in the original form, after all, we are not so FEW who can at least read the Greek alphabet are we?

5 comments about Greece: The Complete Guide with Athens, the Islands, Monasteries and Classical Sites (Fodor's Greece).

1. This is a great book that I would recommend to anyone who is or would like to go to Greece. This book helped me find everything from when to go to what to do when I got there. I'd like to say thanks to Fodor's. They made the planning of my trip so easy, it was fun!



2. My wife and I went to Greece this Fall and used this book a lot both before and during the trip. We were in Athens, Mykonos, and Nafplion in the Peloponnese. We found this book very helpful for hotels, restaurants and some of the sites. However, we thought the book should have more maps of the town, like the Independent Traveler and the Rough Guide. We also had Frommer's and we found that there was about 50% overlap in the recommended hotels and restaurants, so having both books was definitely helpful although Fodor's was marginally better than Frommers'. It makes you wonder, though, why Fodor's didn't think Frommers' places were worth including, and vice versa. After all, there aren't that many places to stay in some of these places.



3. I just returned from my third trip to Greece, where I took my new copy of Fodor's Greece. Although there is some interesting information in this book, it failed in many areas, from providing sufficient information to find places mentioned in the book, to omitting important information all together. I have traveled Europe since the 70s, always purchasing a guide book, but have never had one that was of so little help, and it is the only one I have thrown away mid trip. Many seasoned travelers agree, and recommend the Lonely Planet guide. I believe Fodor's has lost a lot since earlier days when it was much more helpful.



4. I bought this book while planning an 8-day trip to Crete. I liked that the book had suggested itineraries for 1, 3 and 7 day trips. The 30 pages on Crete were divided into eastern and western Crete - I ended up spending half my trip on each end of the island. Based on the very good descriptions of what each town and region are like and have to offer, I selected sites to visit and was not disappointed. I did end up seeing many of the places identified as Fodor's Choice, and have to agee that those were some of the best cities and sites. I also liked that in the descriptions of each area it mentioned if the place was a particularly touristy place, and was able to avoid those spots. I cannot comment on the listing of restaurants and hotels, as I did not use these. I prefer to look for inns on-line and pick my restaurants when hunger strikes. Overall, I was very happy with the book. The only caveat is that it was too thick to carry around, so I would have liked a book just about Crete and not all of Greece.



5. I found everything I was looking for in Fodor's Greece 2008. I have been in Athens before, but a long time ago and want to take an island cruise this time. The information was very precise, it listed all cruise lines and gave me details that I could not find on Internet.
   It has no pictures, and a fold-out city map, only a minor flaw in my mind. I always buy city maps locally on the day of my arrival.
   The guide suggests itineries and gives a descriptions of many hotels, even says which rooms have the best views. I was very pleased with the guide.

2 comments about Cruising the Mediterranean: A Guide to the Ports of Call (Crusing the Mediterranean).

1. Pages 1-134 contain rapidly outdated information--best got off the web on what cruise lines go where.

   Larry Ludmer then fails to deliver on his promise (p152, Cruising the Med) to indicate the location of each port and give some information on getting there. Two examples: Larry please tell us how equipped with a Eurail pass, one gets
   1) from the Venice train station to the cruise terminal,
   2) from Livorno cruise terminal to Florence??




2. While I have to agree with the previous reviewer that the Ship Itineraries section of this book could easily have been dipensed with, I did find some value in this book, taken as it was. The most major ports have a map (not detailed) that gives you some idea of the locations of major sites of interest in relation to each other. I did find this helpful in planning what it was reasonable to expect to be able to get to. It gives an opinion on what ports are best explored on your own, and which are best seen through a purchased excursion. It also gives some tips on getting around; but these are not always consistently detailed for each location. "Highlights Tours" are provided for those ports that you would want to explore yourself.
   
   I found reading this book to be like sitting down and having a conversation with someone who knows these ports...not always detailed enough, or consistent in information, but interesting mostly because it gives you a bit of an opinion on which to base choices and some information that I didn't get elsewhere about the ports that I visited.

5 comments about Travelers' Tales Ireland: True Stories.

1. I'm on my way to Ireland in a few days. This is just a note to say that I found this book on Ireland, to my surprise as so many nice things can be, enormously sensitive and moving and classy. Classy because the type style, the paper stock, and the interior arrangement of the stories and back-of-the-book tips and advice show a lot of editorial thought, being so well done. I was deeply moved by the selection of the tales, each its own chapter, and I definitely felt a sense of coming to know Ireland in a way no other book I could buy would bring me. Lots of laughter and tears and thoughts arriving as I stared out a window, enveloping the mood of a story I'd just finished. They were wonderfully written for me, to my standards, which are impossibly high -- I admire the best, even if I can't write at that level -- and overall I sensed that the editing was careful, thoughtful. There'd been plenty of work put into this volume. The end of the book with all the tips was very enjoyable, and I've read it through twice so far as I sense it will all come true for me, all prove to be good advice, on this, my first trip to Ireland.



2. Like other books in the Travelers Tales series - this book gives excellent insight into the Irish way of life and provides excellent reading (I am slightly biased, having written one of the short pieces that is included - titled Cycling to Dun Aengus). The overall quality of the book is excellent and the descriptions pull you right into the landscape and geography of Ireland - from sitting in smoky pubs to driving past weather beaten coasts. Some of these pieces are also hilarious. Highly recommended not only as a prerequisite to a visit - but for a great read. TJLMullen@cs.com



3. This book consists of a wide variety of stories from the humourous to the profound to the historical. There are stories that you want to sit down with a friend and read it to them: specically, "A Pub Fairy Tale" by Pamela Ramsey tells of a visit to an Irish pub by the author who wanted to take in the "ambiance" of the music and dancing. She hoped that she would be asked to dance, but as closing time drew near, her hopes seemed slim. Then an energetic old gentleman finally asked her, and she describes it this way: "I could feel the other dancers watching us, nodding, laughing, giving us encouragement, but the old man and I had eyes only for each other. We were two odd strangers caught in a moment of tenderness. A moment of magic. I was Cinderella, the belle of the ball, dancing with my Prince - an old, almost-blind man, wearing a black beret." Beautiful. Another story tells of the estrangement of a son and his father when he married outside the faith, and how, when the father died, a reconciliation of sorts was established with his brother with they go hiking on the hills where there father had hiked with them, and how he came to understand his father's secret strength and connection with the isle: "Walking the Kerry Way", by Tim O'Reilly. This brief description of Mr. O'Reilly's story does it a gross injustice, because there is a depth of feeling that only the author can convey. The brief biographical descriptions at the end of each story are informative and to the point. At the end of the book, there is an extensive, "The Next Step" which includes a number of websites, and a good bibliography. The book is well put together, and succeeds very well in conveying "true stories of life on the emerald isle."



4. I really enjoyed this book on Travler's tales from Ireland. It had some great stories. You really got to know about the country, and it's people from reading this. I highly recommend it.



5. I am giving one less star than the other commentators here not out of contrariness but simply to let readers know of the very uneven quality of the 44 entries, most of which are excerpts from longer works by established writers, although a minority appear to be written for this anthology. Not to say that the latter suffer necessarily; the best essay in here, and the only one that examines the other side of the tourist's encounter, is Janine Jones' "Tea With Mr. Curtain." Jones ponders what to do when the more unsavory side of a revered local man is revealed to apparently only her "privileged" view as a visitor. She opts for reticence rather than revealing his secret side to the rest of the village that she will soon leave but he never will.
   
   The familiar authors mingle with the unknown, and to the editors' credit, they offset their knowingly but fulsomely lavish encomium of the oul' sod's charm prefacing this collection with a final section highlighting the shadowy scandals of an Ireland beyond the postcard views too often limiting many of the writers here included. The best sections are this last portion, for its frankness, and the beginning that in its "Essence of Ireland" does set out neatly such observant scenes as that of a kayaker, Brian Wilson, who finds his moored craft suddenly whisked away under the local Conamara customs of flotsam and jetsam belonging to those who live by the sea's bounty; Rosemary Mahoney's look (from her excellent "Whoredom in Kimmage: Irish Women Coming of Age") at how the Legion of Mary's volunteers work in inner-city Dublin; David Blaker's decision to call himself a Jew when hitching rides in the North to avoid uneasy conversations; and David W. McFadden's meeting with an amateur archeologist in the Tipperary town of Cahir. The second section is most disappointing: the contributors are either too blase or mundane about their activities, or what they report matters little to engage the imagination of the reader.
   
   Valuable essays in part three about destinations are those of Katharine Scherman on Skellig Micheal; poitin-making by John McLaughlin; Thomas Flanagan on the real Mayo that inspired his "Year of the French" novel; and Jonathan Harrington's brief but moving tale of finding and meeting distant relatives one uncomfortable night. In the last section, Scott Anderson exposes the racketeering and an even more dangerous climate of intimidation that because of its underground impact on both sides of the sectarian divide has followed the decline in paramilitary violence; Martin Dillon gives a literally awful anecdote from his "God and the Gun" about a priest forced to hear the confession of a man the IRA is about to execute; Fintan O'Toole offers a typically nuanced examination of the Bishop Casey-Annie Murphy scandal.
   
   The listings at the back, with succinct advice for tourists, are helpful and cogent, if by now of course dated a bit. The bibliography is well-chosen. Finally, sidebars in the text give additional observations from other texts, and these snippets are placed often to play off the longer essays in nimble fashion.

3 comments about Arrian: Anabasis of Alexander, Books 5-7. Indica. (Loeb Classical Library No. 269).

1. Arrian's Books, in two volumes, are perhaps the most informative and accurate existing account of the expeditions of Alexander the Great. The accounts are historical and also give insight into the personality of Alexander. Contrary to most histories, the texts are an easy read, with descriptions of places, people, and events giving the reader a good sense of the adventures encountered by Alexander and his men. The tale is told directly. Alexander's sexuality, the love of his troops for their leader, and all the other human qualities intermingled in a real life situation are presented without bias.
   The text is in greek and english, in flanking pages. The footnotes are helpful, providing clarity to definitions of words in their historical context. The second volume contains various Appendixes providing added information on Military Questions, India, Mearchus' Voyage (Alexander's Sea Captain), etc.
   For one wising to learn of Alexander, this is the best source available.



2. This book is one of two volumes written by Arrian on Alexander the Great. So many books have been written about this fascinating and charigmatic young man.Although most of the documents from Alexander's lifetime have vanished,this one is the closest that we can get to him.
   
   In my own opinion I think that the documents that vanished may have been in the Alexandria library,or possibly were the body or remains of Alexander are.
   
   What I liked the most in this book is the fact that the name of the cities and places that Alexander conquered are also named with today's actual names,making it easy for us lovers of history to relate to today's geography.
   
   The Theban battle is very well written with so many details, not only the amount of horses,companions,hypastis and so on but the way that Alexander he himself planned.How Alexander took care of the innocent people,and how he cared for them,example the battle of Agis. What he did to the citizens of Soli, giving their land and money back.Details of Darius' mother,wife and children.
   For instance I did not know that Dairus married his own sister.
   there is so much in this book that it is really worth having if you are a true historian buff of Alexander's time.
   
   The details of the army that conquered which tribe and city.How many horses, carriages, elephants, companions were used for each battle.
   
   The treason fo Philotas and the killing of Parmenio,are also detailed here.The revolt of Agis,India and the Persian Empire, plus detailes of Alexander's army.
   
   I enjoyed reading it very very much.I hope that you will do the same.



3. This is an excellent translation. The book contains a number of appendices which are superb analyses of different issues dealing with Alexander's history.
   As a professional historian I can recommend the book without hesitation.
   
   MJ Olbrycht