Blue Guides Discussion Forums (beta)

4 responses so far ↓

•   reader // Jun 30th 2008 at 4:49pm

  I thoroughly enjoyed your new GREECE: THE MAINLAND Blue Guide and was curious to see if there would be a new Greek Islands or Athens Blue Guide coming soon.

•   Blue Guides, Editor in Chief // Jun 30th 2008 at 4:50pm

  I am happy that you enjoyed the Mainland Greece guide. We are currently working on a new Blue Guide to the Aegean islands (pub. 2009), with a revised edition of Crete to follow shortly after that, and the Ionian islands for 2010. Athens has been in flux ever since the Olympics, with the Acropolis still in a state of near-demolition. But I hope we will be able to turn our attention to it soon.

•   Gary Vos // Aug 27th 2008 at 10:03am

  First of all, I should like to congratulate you on writing the most detailed, and yet comprehensive, guide to mainland Greece available. I found your travel guide extremely useful (in fact, indispensable) for furnishing me with all the necessary directions, as well as archeological information and some cultural and historical reminders. Nevertheless, for all its meticulousness, I feel some minor inaccuracies have crept in, which I would like to address here.

  The chapter concerning Athens and the Piraeus is genuinely outstanding and provides quite a lot of information valuable to the interested tourist and the more advanced visitor alike. I have noted no shortcomings here, except for two slight discrepancies. Firstly, the opening hours of Schliemann’s House, which nowadays houses the Numismatic Museum, are on page 109 given to be “Tues-Sun 8-2.30 (sic)” This information is probably merely outdated, and therefore not really a mistake. The current opening hours are: Tuesday to Sunday, from 8.30h. to 15.00h. Secondly, at the risk of being a nag, a
  reference to Lord Byron in the Index, which lists him on page 68, is incorrect: this should be page 67.

  The section on modern-day Elefsina (p.145-151), which is better known by its ancient name of Eleusis, has been somewhat surpassed by recent developments. For instance, the remark that “[s]igns for the ancient site are conspicuous only by their absence” (p. 145) is simply untrue. By staying on the main roads of Elefsina one is bound to come across the many signs giving directions to the sanctuary. A little further, on page 151, caution is given to the reader that the museum on the site is only intermittently open to visitors, as a result of earthquake damage. Perhaps this is so, but during my last visits to the sanctuary (in May last year and the first week of this month) the museum was open and showed no signs of work being in progress. Furthermore, I have noted quite an important omission: on page 152 no information is given to the reader on how to reach Elefsina. I was able to take a train from Larissa Station in Athens (bound for Kalampaka) and got off at Magoula Station (Stathmos Magoulas). From there I took a bus, line 864 which runs only once an hour, to the town centre of Elefsina. All in all, my travelling time was little over an hour and a half (an attestation to the advice given on p. 145: “some may prefer to take a taxi”).

  Finally, I would like to remark that the information provided about the Mysteries which were held at the sanctuary, and the myths attached to these celebrations, is perhaps somewhat terse, though basically correct. I admit a professional interest here and at the same time I understand the editors’ and authors’ wish to supply the reader with a concise description of these proceedings, yet it seems to me that a few words on the climax of the Mysteries are merited. This climax is in ancient Greek called epopteia, which literally translates as ‘the seeing’. What was seen exactly remains unknown, but scholars
  speculate that the mystai, the initiates, saw Persephone rising up from the Underworld. Thus the initiates had an unique opportunity to establish some form of a relationship with her, which could prove to be useful when they died and passed to the Underworld, where Persephone and her husband Hades would decide what kind of afterlife would be fitting for a particular soul. This is why the Roman orator Cicero (1st century B.C.) could write the following:

  Cic. Leg. 2.36:
  (…) ita re vera principia vitae cognovimus; neque solum cum laetitia vivendi rationem accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliore moriendi.
  ‘(…) so indeed [i.e. by participating in the Mysteries] do we learn the principle matters of life; and not only do we acquire a way of living with joy, but also a way of dying with greater hope.’

  Compare also the following statement, taken from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the oldest account (c. 6th century B.C.) of the Mysteries we possess:

  Hymn. Hom. Dem. v. 480-483:
  ‘Happy is he of the people living on earth who has seen these things; and he who is not initiated in these sacred rites and who does not participate in them, has no part in the same things [i.e. as the people who do participate] in the shadowy Underworld, after he has died.’

  In conclusion, I would like to state that the aforementioned points are but quibbles which do not in any way detract from the usefulness and the value of this Blue Guide. I shall therefore reiterate what I wrote in opening: this Mainland Greece guide covers all areas of interest and does this in a way unparalleled by any other travel guide, succinctly and precisely. By this modest contribution I hope to further the justly attained reputation of the Blue Guide-series as a work of excellence. I look forward to using the forthcoming guides to the Aegean islands and Crete.

•   Derek Long // Sep 29th 2008 at 8:34pm

  Re Kalamata Museums, p.343. At present the Benakeion is very disappointing: there is nothing to see on the ground floor at all, and the 2nd floor displays have been raided - for example, no “thumb-sized marble figure”. The only explanation, from a surly atttendant whose English leaked away rapidly when questioned, was “we make new museum. Perhaps next year”.

  I am surprised you do not mention Peristeria, a few miles north of Cyparissia, where are 3 tholos tombs, one immense one in astonishing condition. We visited it on Tuesday September 23; it was closed, though only supposed to be closed on Mondays. The usual hole in the fence is not hard to find (walk around to the left), and this stunning site is well worth seeing. But nobody seems to mention it - maps only show the antiquities symbol at Raches, the nearest village.

Leave a Comment