ATHENS AND BEYOND-30 DAY TRIPS & WEEKENDS

In the old days, even fifteen years ago, you had to be tough to venture into most of Greeces mountains. And I dont mean just to walk or hike amongst the glorious peaks or verdant upper pastures. Surviving the nights in a bleak, unheated room required even sterner stuff. We faced the nights with the help of a small potbellied stove and immoderate quantities of rough local wine. But these days one doesnt have to suffer. There are signs that a revolution is taking place in formerly remote mountain regions. Whether in hot pursuit of a rumoured revival in the mountains, a riveting fresco hidden in an Attica church, a new find in the archaeological sites of the Peloponnese, or even just a very good island wine - Diana Farr Louis has been taking to the roads less travelled in Greece for the last forty years and coming back to Athens with ever more stories, recipes, and a deep sense of what makes the country what is today. In this collection of articles printed in the Athens News from 1997 to 2003, the papers foremost travel columnist recounts her day trips around Athens and short weekends further afield, bringing together the history, mythology, cuisine and culture of each place with the ease of a local and the eye for detail of a modernday Pausanias. Athens and Beyond is divided by region into chapters on Athens and Attica, the Peloponnese and Central Greece, and nearby Islands. It also provides practical information, updated for this edition, such as restaurant and hotel recommendations, phone numbers and museum hours, leaving travellers to the thrill of the chase.