Greece is famous for its glorious history, archaeological wealth, democracy and contribution to sciences, but it is also a land of rich folk heritage. A Greek Folk Journey acquaints you with this folk heritage by providing an insight into the abundance of customs, festivals and events to be found in all corners of the country, presented by the month. Ancient and more recent traditions live on in many of Greece's cities, towns or the smallest of villages, thanks to the dedication of local communities, cultural associations and local authorities. Many of the events have historic or religious backgrounds, others are contests or sporting competitions, including world-famous marathons, sailing regattas and chess tournaments. Interesting seasonal produce festivals also feature, such as cherry, watermelon, fig, mushroom, olive and wine festivals. Commercial and agricultural fairs, which have a local flavour and where entertainment and delicacies are offered to visitors, are described to entice you. And if that is not enough, A Greek Folk Journey serves up regional dishes, helping you to savour the flavours of glorious Greece.
Leaving behind a sparkling social life and a successful journalism career, Eleni Gage moved from New York City to the remote Greek village of Lia. Lia is the same village where her father was born and her grandmother murdered, and which her father, Nicholas Gage, made famous twenty years ago with his international bestseller Eleni. Her four aunts (the diminutive but formidable thitsas) warned Eleni that she'd get killed by Albanians and eaten by wolves if she moved to Lia, invoking the curse her grandmother placed on any of her descendants who returned to Greece. But Eleni was determined to rebuild the ruins of her grandparents' house and to come to terms with her family's tragic history. Along the way, she learned to dodge bad omens and to battle the scorpions on her pillow and the shadows in her heart. She also came to understand that Greece and its memories were not only dark and death-filled, and that memories of the dead can bring new life to the present. Part travel memoir and part family saga, North of Ithaka is, above all, a journey home.
Insight Guide to Greece is a pictorial travel guide in a magazine style providing answers to the key questions before or during your trip: deciding when to go to Greece, choosing what to see, from exploring the Peloponnese to discovering Rhodes or creating a travel plan to cover key places like Athens and Crete. This is an ideal travel guide for travellers seeking inspiration, in-depth cultural and historical information about Greece as well as a great selection of places to see during your trip. The Insight Guide Greece covers: Athens; The Peloponnese; Central Greece; Epirus; Thessaloniki; Macedonia and Thrace; Islands of the Sardonic Gulf; The Cyclades; Crete; Rhodes; The Dodecanese; The Northeast Agean; The Sporades and Evvia; Corfu; The Ionian Islands In this travel guide you will find: IN-DEPTH CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES Created to explore the culture and the history of Greece to get a greater understanding of its modern-day life, people and politics BEST OF The top attractions and Editor's Choice highlighting the most special places to visit around Greece CURATED PLACES, HIGH QUALITY MAPS Geographically organised text cross-referenced against full-colour, high quality travel maps for quick orientation in Central Greece, Thessaloniki, and many more locations in Greece. COLOUR-CODED CHAPTERS Every part of Greece, from the islands of the Sardonic Gulf to the Dodecanese has its own colour assigned for easy navigation TIPS AND FACTS Up-to-date historical timeline and in-depth cultural background to Greece as well as an introduction to Greece's Food and Drink and fun destination-specific features. PRACTICAL TRAVEL INFORMATION A-Z of useful advice on everything from when to go to Greece, how to get there and how to get around, as well as Greece's climate, advice on tipping, etiquette and more. STRIKING PICTURES Features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning Parthenon and the spectacular Delphi Sanctuary.
This study is concerned with the vocal iso(n) repertory, used, on the one hand, in the oral traditions of the multipart unaccompanied singing (IMUS) of the Southwest Balkans, or, more specifically, South Albania, North Epirus in Greece and a small part of the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), and on the other hand in Byzantine chanting. The vocal iso(n) is an important component of these traditions, which are still practised today in the Southwest Balkans region. The study presents evidence on various manifestations of the practice in their particular geographical regions, and examines in detail the historical roots of these traditions. An ison, a drone holding-note, is the voice that provides the drone in Byzantine chanting. This chant is part of the liturgical music of the Orthodox Churches, in contrast to the IMUS, which has developed as a secular repertory. The Byzantine liturgical singing of the Arbëresh Diaspora of South Italy and Sicily, which has been passed down orally from the 15th century to the present day, as well as non-liturgical singing, is also explored in this book. The three unaccompanied forms of singing, two of which use the ison (IMUS and Byzantine chanting) and the third, the Arbëresh, which does not (with some exceptions in recent times), are analysed in separate sections of the book. Unlike many studies of similar subject matter, which suffer from a one-sided point of view because of national bias, this book is multifaceted and even-handed. While multipart singing in Albania is usually considered to be a solely Albanian phenomenon, in Greece, it is thought of as being Greek. In fact, the multipart singing of the Albanian and Greek, as well as Aromanian and some Slavic populations is more intrinsically bound to the region than to any ethnic group. The distinct sound of iso(n) singing echoes the internal and external historic influences of the region, interwoven with the complex modal idioms.
I like these songs better than all the rest, and someday you will too, Franz Schubert told the friends who were the first to hear his song cycle, Winterreise. These lieder have always found admiring audiences, but the poetry he chose to set them to has been widely regarded as weak and trivial. In Retracing a Winter's Journey, Susan Youens looks not only at Schubert's music but at the poetry, drawn from the works of Wilhelm Müller, who once wrote in his diary, "perhaps there is a kindred spirit somewhere who will hear the tunes behind the words and give them back to me!" Youens maintains that Müller, in depicting the wanderings of the alienated lover, produced poetry that was simple but not simple-minded, poetry that embraced simplicity as part of its meaning. In her view, Müller used the ruder folk forms to give his verse greater immediacy, to convey more powerfully the wanderer's complex inner state. Youens addresses many different aspects of Winterreise: the cultural milieu to which it belonged, the genesis of both the poetry and the music, Schubert's transformation of poetic cycle into music, the philosophical dimension of the work, and its musical structure.
Your in-depth guide to the very best of Greece, Athens, and the Mainland. Make the most of your trip to this beautiful region with our DK Eyewitness Travel Guide. Packed with insider tips to make your trip a success, you'll find a guide to Greece's stunning historic architecture and its scenic drives that let you experience the best hotels, bars, and shops that the city and coast have to offer. Try local delicacies at fantastic restaurants, bars, and clubs, and enjoy the great views in spots that will take your breath away. We have the best hotels for every budget, plus fun activities for the solitary traveler or for families and children visiting Greece. Discover DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Greece, Athens & the Mainland: + Detailed itineraries and "don't-miss" destination highlights at a glance. +Illustrated cutaway 3-D drawings of important sights. +Floor plans and guided visitor information for major museums. +Free, color pull-out map (print edition) marked with sights from the guide, a selected sight and street index, public transit information, practical information on getting around, and a chart for measuring walking distances. +Guided walking tours, local drink and dining specialties to try, things to do, and places to eat, drink, and shop by area. +Area maps marked with sights. +Detailed city maps include street finder indexes for easy navigation. +Insights into history and culture to help you understand the stories behind the sights. +Hotel and restaurant listings highlight DK Choice special recommendations. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Greece, Athens & the Mainlandtruly shows you this destination as no one else can. Series Overview: For more than two decades, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have helped travelers experience the world through the history, art, architecture, and culture of their destinations. Expert travel writers and researchers provide independent editorial advice, recommendations, and reviews. With guidebooks to hundreds of places around the globe available in print and digital formats, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides show travelers how they can discover more. DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: the most maps, photographs, and illustrations of any guide. Visit TravelDK.com to learn more. Reviews: "Known... for its four-color maps, photos and illustrations, the [DK] Eyewitness Guides are extremely user-friendly for travelers who want their information delivered in a concise, visual way." - Chicago Tribune "The best option... Color photos, maps, and diagrams bring the place to life." - The Philadelphia Inquirer Awards: Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009-2016
The bibliography volume of the three-volume East Looks West: East European Travel Writing in Europe collates travel writing published in book form by east Europeans travelling in Europe from ca. 1550 to 2000. It is intended as a fundamental research tool, collecting together travel writings within each national/linguistic tradition, and enabling comparative analysis of such material. It fills an important gap in the existing reference literature, both in western and east European languages, and will be of use to those working in the growing fields of comparative travel writing, regional and national identities, and postcolonialism.These texts exist in surprisingly large numbers, and include writings of high literary quality as well as of historical interest, but they have been relatively little studied as a genre. Much of this material is rare and difficult to find, even in national libraries. As a result, there are few bibliographical surveys of the literature of east European travel and self-representation, and none that are region-wide or comparative in scope. This is the third volume of a three-part set of East Looks West, Vol. 1 - An Anthology of East European Travel Writing on Europe; and Vol. 2 - A Comparative Introduction to East European Travel Writing on Europe.
A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2018 In the tradition of Patrick Leigh Fermor and Geoff Dyer, a Grammy-winning producer discovers a powerful and ancient folk music tradition. In a gramophone shop in Istanbul, renowned record collector Christopher C. King uncovered some of the strangest—and most hypnotic—sounds he had ever heard. The 78s were immensely moving, seeming to tap into a primal well of emotion inaccessible through contemporary music. The songs, King learned, were from Epirus, an area straddling southern Albania and northwestern Greece and boasting a folk tradition extending back to the pre-Homeric era. To hear this music is to hear the past. Lament from Epirus is an unforgettable journey into a musical obsession, which traces a unique genre back to the roots of song itself. As King hunts for two long-lost virtuosos—one of whom may have committed a murder—he also tells the story of the Roma people who pioneered Epirotic folk music and their descendants who continue the tradition today. King discovers clues to his most profound questions about the function of music in the history of humanity: What is the relationship between music and language? Why do we organize sound as music? Is music superfluous, a mere form of entertainment, or could it be a tool for survival? King’s journey becomes an investigation into song and dance’s role as a means of spiritual healing—and what that may reveal about music’s evolutionary origins.
Travel, Tourism and Identity addresses the psychological and social adjustments that occur when people make contact with others outside their social, cultural, or linguistic groups. Whether such contact is the result of tourism, seeking exile, or relocating abroad, the volume's contributors demonstrate how one's identity, cultural assumptions, and worldview can be brought into question. In some cases, the traveller finds that bridging the social and cultural gap between himself and the new society is fairly easy. In other cases, the traveller discovers that reorienting himself requires absorbing a new cultural history and traditions. The contributors argue that making these adjustments will surely enhance the traveller's or tourist's experience; otherwise the traveller or tourist will be at risk of becoming a marginalized figure, one disconnected from the society that surrounds him. This latest volume in the Culture & Civilization series features a collection of essays on travel and tourism. The essays cover a range of topics from historical travels to modern social identities. They discuss ancient travels, contemporary travels in Europe, Africa and sustainable eco-tourism, and the politics of tourism. Essays also address experiences of Grenada's "Spice Island" identity, and the effects of globalization and migrations on personal identity.
Insight Guides: all you need to inspire every step of your journey. From deciding when to go, to choosing what to see when you arrive, this is all you need to plan your trip and experience the best of the Greek Islands, with in-depth insider information on must-see, top attractions like Santorni and the Ionian Islands, and hidden cultural gems such as exploring the islets of gios Evstrtios and Tlendos. Insight Guide Greek Islands is ideal for travellers seeking immersive cultural experiences, from exploring the best musems, to discovering the best local foodie specialities In-depth on history and culture: enjoy special features on People and Identities, Aegean Architecture and Cruising Round the Islands, all written by local experts Includes innovative, unique extras to keep you up-to-date when you're on the move - this guide comes with a free eBook, and an app that highlights top attractions and regional information and is regularly updated with new hotel, bar, restaurant, shop and local event listings Invaluable maps, travel tips and practical information ensure effortless planning, and encourage venturing off the beaten track Inspirational colour photography throughout - Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books Inventive design makes for an engaging, easy reading experience About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrasebooks, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.
