Blue Guides: Complete Cultural Guides -- This guide amply covers mainland Greece, the cradle of western civilisation. Updated information on developments in archaeology and scholarship make this the essential guide for visitors to Greece who are genuinely interested in its past as a way of enjoying the present. This book aims above all to be a handbook and reference book to the Classical world, making that world visible and comprehensible to new generations of readers. This edition pays more attention to practical information, on the hypothesis that a good lunch and a comfortable bed are all part of the cultural experience. Illustrations to inform rather than to decorate: maps, diagrams, floor plans, architectural details and photographs -- Often plagiarised by other guide writers, Blue Guides have always been a gold standard for accuracy and depth Daily Telegraph. Guide books in the grand tradition of thoroughness and objectivity Georgia Review.