Author: Deni Bown
Publisher: DK Publishing, Inc.
Price: $24.95
ISBN Number 0-7894-1452-X

Pre-trip planning or post-trip boasting, the Eyewitness Travel Guide for Greece: Athens & the Mainland is a fun, valuable reference.

These visual guides show 3-D cutaway maps of major attractions, letting you explore the top attractions. Some might even feel they show almost too much, leaving less to discover at the site...did you need to know the floor covering before your visit? But the usefulness of these guides in planning, for example, an on-the-run visit to a museum just before closing time will make up for any lost surprises. And, believe me, the real 3-D Greece will have more than enough pleasant discoveries that can't be put in any guidebook.

The Eyewitness Guides also include functional maps of major cities, and the Athens one is complete with a street index. This feature is omitted in other guidebooks, and greatly improves the usefulness of this guide.

The back-of-the-book "Survival Guide" is filled with tips, including a useful page showing the major currency in circulation, transportation routes, shopping tips, and other general info. A brief list of tourist Greek phrases is also included, which can make your journey much more pleasant. No, you don't need to know Greek to travel in Greece, but even fumbling attempts at speaking their language will encourage many Greeks to give you an even warmer welcome.

The abundant photos on the attractions and regions of Greece leaves no room for pictures of hotels and restaurants, which are only described briefly in the back, separate from their locations. The selections, while choice, don't give the reader much choice other than to rely on the information presented. It would be nice if the Eyewitness Guides extended their photo-rich format to the back of the book.

Greece: Athens & the Mainland is part of a pair of books on Greece, and so many travelers will need the companion volume The Greek Islands as well.

Although officially noted as a "hardcover", this book is actually a firm-covered paperback in a slim, narrow format, too big for most pockets but still easy to carry.

-deTraci Regula