Reading about Athens

For me one of the joys of travel is the discovery of new culture, languages, people, food and society. I often study the place well before I go.

I have found DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Series very good. It was useful when I was in Rome last November , TOP TEN ROME.

In Athens the book TOP TEN ATHENS is extremely helpful. It listed the top ten most see attractions, what they are, how to get there and what to see. Often in a strange place, we often miss the most important sight even if it was just behind us.

Athen's Top Ten are
(1) Acropolis
(2) The Agora
(3) The National Archeological Museum
(4) Museum of Cycladic Art
(5) Roman Forum and Tower of the Winds
(6) Benaki Museum
(7) Kerameikos
(8) Byzantne Meseum
(9) Filopappos Hill
(10) Temple of Olympian Zeus

The other guide book I find extremely useful in this trip is the KNORF GUIDE.

The book carries the summaries (which are tastefully illustrated in color) about the culture, nature, history, sight, climate, hotels, restaurants.

It helps me to understand the ancient history of the Greeks from prehistory, the cycladic period, the Minoa civilisation, the Mycaean civilisation (Trojan War period), the migration and the geometric period, the two Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian war (between Athens and Sparta), The Roman period, Byzantine period, Ottoman period, the Independence and the catastrophe of 1922. And the book also shares about their religions (and mythology)