LONELY PLANET GREEK ISLANDS
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
Greek Islands
(Lonely Planet) ISBN 978-1741792270 1741792274
Learn how to plan a Greek islands vacation, where to stay, eat and sightsee on the Cyclades Islands, Crete, Rhodes and other Greek islands. How islands does Greece have? According to Lonely Planet's Greek Islands, it has 1,400 islands and islets.
The 556-page guidebook helps you plan transportation between islands, learn about Greek islands weather (temperature and rainfall) and find travel agencies that offer bike and car rental for your Greek island holiday. You'll also learn about beaches, walking tours, museums, shopping and entertainment.
Information about Crete
Greek Islands is a comprehensive guidebook, organized by island group, e.g., Cyclades Islands. Information on individual islands is subdivided into cities and regions.
The Crete chapter, for example, has information on Minoan sites, including Knossos, Iraklio bus services and car rental. (Crete has an island-wide car hire company called Alianthos Rent-A-Car & Bikes.)
Besides information on hotels, restaurants and activities, you will learn where to find Internet access, banks and laundromats in cities like Hania, Crete.
Greek foods and drinks
Sidebars throughout the Greek island travel guide provide additional information. In the Food & Drink chapter, a sidebar describes Greek island food specialties like kopanisti, a spicy cream cheese in Mykonos, and soumada, a non-alcoholic almond drink in the Cyclades.
Another sidebar describes Greek island cheeses such as graviera, a sheep milk cheese made on Naxos, and ladotyri, a hard yellow cheese preserved in olive oil in Lesvos.
Things to do
One insert of 12 color photos depicts travel highlights, including Preveli Beach and Spinalonga Island in Crete, and the National Marine Park of Alonnisos.
Another 12 color photo insert portrays Greek island natural wonders, like Nisros volcano and Greek island activities, such as hiking Samaria Gorge in the Lefka Ori (White Mountains) of Crete.
Maps of Greek islands
The Lonely Planet guide book features 128 Greek island maps, which show details of island-hopping routes, islands such as Spetses, Greece, and cities like Iraklio, Crete. Other maps depict ferry routes, e.g., boats between Kos, Pserimos and Kalymnos.
A Glossary defines Greek abbreviations like EOT, short for the Greek Tourist Board, Ellinikos Organismos Tourismos (the GNTO or Greek National Tourist Organization, in North America).
Ferries and cruises
Charts list ports, cost, duration and frequency of ferries. For example, the once-weekly boat trip between Kos and Chios takes eight hours and costs 22 Euros. The guidebook also lists ferries from Albania, Italy and Turkey to the Greek islands.
The Outdoors chapter describes hiking in the Greek islands. A chart lists Greek island hikes with locations, descriptions and degree of difficulty. Skopelos in the Sporades Islands, for example, has easy hikes through olive groves, vineyards and forests.
For cruises, the Lonely Planet guidebook provides information on Louis Cruises, the most popular cruise line, and tour operators like Thomas Cook, which runs several cruises to Greek islands.
If you prefer a Greek isles sailing vacation, the guide book explains how to charter yachts, with Hellenic Yachting Server, and how to book bare boat charters during the sailing season, April to October. It also lists tour operators such as Ghiolman Yachts & Travel, in Athens, which offers Greek islands yachting and sailing holidays.
Contents
- On the Road
- Greek Islands Highlights
- Destination Greek Islands
- Getting Started
- Events Calendar
- Itineraries
- History
- The Culture
- Food & Drink
- Environment
- Athens & the Mainland Ports
- Island Temptations
- Saronic Gulf Islands
- Cyclades
- Crete
- Dodecanese
- Northeastern Aegean Islands
- Evia & the Sporades
- Ionian Islands
- Directory
- Transport
- Island Hopping
- Health
- Language
- Glossary
- Index
Authors
Korina Miller, Michael Stamatios Clark, Chris Deliso, Des Hannigan, Victoria Kyriakopoulos