Rick Steves Greece: Athens & the Peloponnese

I miss the oh-so-personal authenticity of Steves's early books. His reliance on staff has grown over the years, but we wouldn't have such an incredible range of topics if the poor guy had to do it all by himself. My wife and I did personally visit every entry in our "Drinking In the Culture: Tuppers’ Guide to Exploring Great Beers in Europe", but it took us six years and almost bankrupted us. You won't see a single-city guide from us any time soon. Rick hires well and edits well, and you can still hear his voice as you read and get ready for a trip-- or just dream about one. I know a lot more about beer travel than he does, but despite the fact that I have a Masters Degree in History and taught it for more than 40 years, I'm pretty sure he knows a lot more about history than I do. I get new insights every time I read one of his books. The hotel and restaurant recommendations are still valuable, but the internet has made them far less vital. The sense of where you're going, why you're going there and who you're going to meet when you get there is much harder to find on line. This book can save you hours of fumbling around on a computer and point you in directions you just won't find for yourself. For value?-- it's a fraction of what you'll spent for a part of one day once you're there and might well pay for itself before you leave the airport. -- Bob & Ellie Tupper, authors.

I got introduced to Rick Steves through his "Rick Steves Europe" shows on Hulu. I have always loved his shows as they are informative and gave me travel wanderlust. After deciding to take a solo trip to Greece I started to look for travel guides. When I saw that the "Rick Steves Greece" book had the highest ratings, I opted to purchase that book instead of my usual Frommer's or Lonely Planet. When traveling on my own, I like to research information on each local city/town, the types of activities I can do while I'm there, familiarizing myself with the hotels in the area, where they are located and how they are rated, as well as helpful information on how to get to a specific destination using local transportation. I then build my own itinerary around where I want to go on which date, the things I want to do while I'm there and where I will be staying. Unfortunately the "Rick Steves Greece" book did not provide me with the type of information I wanted. I found that this could be considered more of a "guidebook" where Rick literally crafts an itinerary **for you**, complete with instructions on which site to visit in recommended order, which direction to head towards, what site you could expect to see in front of you and how long the entire self-tour is expected to take. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I wanted. If you're the type of person who hates planning and likes all of the details sorted out for you to the point where you quite literally show up and follow instructions, Rick Steves guidebooks are perfect for you. If you're like me and prefer a travel reference where the facts are presented to you so you can craft your own itinerary, you're better off sticking to the traditional Frommer's or Lonely Planet. I still enjoy watching Rick Steves shows, though. :o)

We bought this book because we love Rick's show on PBS and he did not disappoint. We used the Athens portion extensively and found the guides to the major sites to be the perfect combination of history, detail, and humor. For example: Rick's guide to the Archeological Museum in Athens gives step by step instructions on how to steer through the many exhibits and still make the most of your time. It's clear from his attitude and enthusiasm that he loves the Greeks and traveling in Greece. Note: You can also download audio tours for free from his website. But, if you can't do that, he gives almost the same tour in written form in his book. All of his hints about getting around in the country were spot-on, such as daily reminders about which sites are open during the week and their hours. Since I am a total ancient ruins junky, this was very important. He also gives the best hints for buying discount tickets to the sites. Rick's City Walks give you a lovely introduction to the neighborhoods and an entryway into the local culture. We used these on the days when we didn't have a set "museum" agenda. We used his recommendations for restaurants and were pleasantly surprised by the good food in all of them (even though all the customers have Rick Steves' books in their hands). I was disappointed that the book had almost nothing on Crete, but then realized that its not a part of the Peloponnese! Crete deserves a book on its own. The true surprise about Greece was that almost everyone spoke English and almost everyone was deeply warm, friendly, and kind. Thanks to Rick for a great trip!

I would like to point out couple things contrary to book's recommendations. - the recommended sunset in Santorini is grossly overrated. In actuality there is nothing spectacular in it just very crowded event. I understand that for local economy it is a way to entice tourists to come but the book should catch and expose this. - I would add the warning that grilled food in Greece quite often has a petrochemical smell, ~80% of the time in our experience. And we would order something grilled only if we can see and smell the food beforehand. The book should has this warning in it. - I would also add the warning that good pastry chefs are rare in Greece and majority of Greek sweets are of poor quality, be aware. It is hard to find a good pastry/bakery shop.

I like this guide, I usually get all guides I can before I go somewhere and take one or 2 with me, this I will definitely take, also download a verbal and visual guide on my phone.

Without Rick Steves. Excellent.

Another excellent Rick Steves guide. These guides are full of really useful practical holiday iformationRick Steves guides provide the detailed local information you need to plan and enjoy a relaxed holiday, without spoiling the visual surprises.

Great guide book - informative, enthusiastic, knowledgeable. Out of date but what the hell!

Very good product, like new. Exactly like described.