The Companion Guide to Greece

Brian de Jongh
Revised by John Gandon
Translated by Geoffrey Graham-Bell

Excerpts from this Guide

On the approach to Delphi:
After the turn-off to Distomon the road climbs between jagged peaks. Fir trees spread across the higher slopes. Every outline acquires a razor-edge sharpness, the atmosphere a refined quality, the blue of the sky a new intensity and one senses one is approaching a place of immense significance in the affairs of men. At the top of the pass the curtain is raised with a tremendous flourish. The gorge lies below, the mountains crowding round to complete the famous umbilical effect. In the distance a buttress of cliffs, concealing the sanctuary, juts out to meet another wall of rock; beyond it is a tantalising glimpse of the olive trees of the Sacred Plain.
Chapter Seven, Delphi, p. 101.

On Mount Olympos from the approach to Macedonia:
From now on the backward views of Mount Olympos are superb. For the first time one is able to associate the celebrated mountain with the home of the gods. Its contours are more awesome than beautiful. Forests of oak, chestnut and beech spread across the middle slopes. In the afternoons, shafts of sunlight fill the ravines, creating new perspectives, and great precipices fall from dizzy altitudes to the plain below. Through one towering glen there is a glimpse of the Throne of Zeus, thrusting its peak into the vault of heaven itself. But often as not the traveller will see none of this. The gods still like to conceal their celestial abode in a blanket of cloud.
Chapter 12, The Approach to Macedonia, p. 155. 

On Sparta:
Lakonia is a traveller's paradise. Landscape, mythology, history, primitive sculpture, Byzantine churches, medieval castles - it has them all. With Sparti, its modern name, as a base, the traveller could spend three days pleasantly: one day for the sites of ancient Sparta, including the Museum and Therapne, at least half a day for Mystra, a day for Monemvassia, visiting the churches of Hryssafa and Yeraki on the way.
The usual approach is to go south from Tripolis, with side-trips to the east and west. One begins, in fact, at the end of the story. Just as the final descent to the Lakonian plain starts, there is a turning to the right which leads, after two kilometres, to the village of Sellassia; nearby is the site of the battle of Sellassia. Here, in 222BC, the prolonged struggle which the Spartans had waged so stubbornly and courageously against the overwhelming forces of the Macedonian king, now allied to the Peloponnesian states, came to a calamitous end when repeated charges of Macedonian heavy cavalry broke the Spartan line and put their king to flight. For the first time in history a hostile army entered Sparta." 
Chapter 24, Sparta, p. 340.

On the Church of Ayios Nikolaos tis Rodias:
A boy from the café will fetch a key from the local priest and conduct you to the thirteenth-century Church of Ayios Nikolaos tis Rodias (St Nicholas of the Pomegranate Orchard), now standing impressively isolated in the sunken field which has replaced the original orchard. The exterior of the church is distinguished by a tall drum and brick inlay decoration on the higher courses of the walls. In the naos are two squat marble columns without bases, crowned with well-preserved capitals carved with the device of the double-headed eagle. The frescoes, very damaged, are stylistically of the thirteenth century. A panel on the right side of the iconostasis contains a fine icon of the Dormition of the Virgin, remarkable for the vividness of its red tints. Though provincial in execution, it is nevertheless elegant and sophisticated. 
Chapter 32, The Ambracian Gulf, p. 458.

Sample Images

1. Christ Pantocrator in the Kessariani Monastery, Attica.
2. Sithonia peninsula, Halkidiki
3. Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion
4. The Corinth Canal

Reviews

Essential reading for anyone planning a journey to Greece. COUNTRY LIFE

Dotted throughout with rich and informative disquisitions... at once warm, humane and dry in the best sense. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

It is difficult to think of a writer of guides today with whom to compare de Jongh in his far-reaching familiarity with Greece. To our knowledge, this is the best guide to Mainland Greece in English. ATHENIAN