CLASSICAL TOUR WITH EXTRAS

by George & Lucile Brockway ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Osbert Lancaster might cavil at the implications of the title. But unquestionably there are tourists who want a travel guide, written by knowledgeable travelers, who are, confessedly, bored with archaeology, somewhat indifferent to history, cynical about mythology. Here is a ""three-weeks-in-Greece"" which, for them, will be a bonanza. One wonders at the claim of being ""humanistic,"" when so little of the culture and the people comes through. There are some aspects worth recommending: the honesty about methods of travel, (even if one sharply disagrees with their strictures on cruises), about hotels, restaurants (particularly useful in out of the way spots, if one is motoring). The ""extras"" include a one day trip to Aegina and some other unfamiliar islands; the environs of Athens; one or two unhackneyed sights in Athens itself. But the emphasis often seems biased. If stressing the museum in Olympia, why omit the enticing models of the ancient games layout? Why pass over the revealing pattern of the city streets and buildings in Corinth? The chapters on Rhodes and Crete and Delphi are the best in the lot. The less traveled islands of the Aegean seem derivative-second hand; did they visit only Rhodes, Crete, Myknos, perhaps Delos? We prefer Helen Miller's Greek Horisons, which puts all facets in focus.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION