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The Isles of Greece is the record of a journey, the evocation of a miracle: for the Greek islands are not just beautiful places, they are the birthplace of a spirit, a culture, an art, a civilization, whose greatness still dazzles us, whose antiquity goes back to the age of myth...
- Crete, with its sinister mysteries and legends,
- the island of Theseus and the Labyrinth;
- Lindos, into whose forgotten harbor St. Paul sailed, bringing the Gospel;
- Santorin, once the center of a great empire;
- Delos, the birthplace and sanctuary of Apollo;
- Mychonos, with its 364 churches, one for every ten islanders;
- Naxos, with its famous gateway, so perfect that it seems not the ruin of a temple, but the beginning of one;
- Tinos, with its incongruous Chinese lanterns and its wonder-working icon;
- Samos, with its vast temple to Hera, the island which sheltered Anthony and Cleopatra;
- Chios; the legendary birthplace of Homer
- Athos, the Holy Mountain...
In this book, Robert Payne takes the reader on a journey of the mind and spirit, a vicarious tour of one of the world's few remaining paradises, in the company of a perceptive, knowledgeable and infinitely diverting guide and companion.
The Isles of Greece is the perfect book for the armchair traveler. But he who reads it will not remain one for long, for it is an irresistible call to explore these blessed islands of Aegean, to see the flame-colored cliffs of Santorin, the marble streets of Thasos, the honey colored acropolis of Lindos, to succumb to what Robert Payne calls the madness of islomania whose symptoms are a faraway look in the eyes, a horror or enclosed spaces and a lust for the royal blue and shimmering gold of a magic sea.
CONDITION: Hard Cover with Dust Jacket, we will encase the dust jacket in clear mylar to protect your purchase. Stated FIRST EDITION/ FIRST PRINTING of this book, 1965. 223 pages including index. Light wear only - vg+ condition with some wear to dust jacket. This book was given as a gift to Anthony by Mother and Dad, 1967, inscribed on first blank page.
This is a beautifully written book, exquisitely illustrated with 4 sections of photos, a look at the beauty of Greece in the 1960s, just begging to be brought along on a present day journey.
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