Blue Guide Greece (Blue Guide Greece)

A practical guide to Greece which has been thoroughly revised and updated. It features new introductions to Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and architecture, new or extended descriptions of many sites, new plans and illustrations, and coverage of Greek and modern art.

A library of Greek art, culture, and history in one book? If what you seek is the erudite be-all, end-all in "everything you wanted to know about Greece," Blue Guide has collected it here. With complete academic-style descriptions of the major classical, Byzantine, and medieval sites; more than 70 itineraries covering villages, market towns, cities of the mainland, and islands; and more than 70 site and town plans, this is a comprehensive tome. As independent travel expert Rick Steves writes in his book, Europe Through the Back Door:

With the Blue Guide to Greece, I had all the information I needed about any sight in Greece and never needed to hire a guide. Scholarly types actually find a faint but endearing personality hiding between the sheets of their Blue Guides.

A full complement of essays written by experts in Greek history and culture introduces the text; these include: "Monuments of Ancient Greece," "Byzantine Art and Architecture," "Post-Byzantine Monuments," "Greek Vernacular Architecture," "Modern Greek History," and "Greek Folk Art." A color atlas of the mainland and islands is included at the back of the book. No accommodations are listed. (Note: Crete is covered in a separate volume.) --Kathryn True