Zakynthos: Complete Guide with Walks - Couverture souple

Schofield, Gail

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1856914011 ISBN 13 : 9781856914017

Editeur : Sunflower Books, 2011

Synopsis

This is a general guide to Zakynthos, but with special emphasis on the island s countryside and the National Marine Park. It covers getting there and getting about, recommended accommodation and restaurants (with price guides), practicalities A-Z, history, customs and traditions, religious festivals, and all the major sights.There are five car tours (with fold-out touring maps), highlighting places where you can stop for a walk or just a stroll to a lovely picnic setting. Much of the book is devoted to over 20 main walks, each with several variations and charmingly 'mapped out' with the authors own 3D drawings.But even non-walkers will appreciate the walking section: while the walk descriptions themselves are brief, each walk is followed by two facing pages focussing on the islands geology, habitats, agriculture, flora and wildlife all illustrated (there are over 10 photographs for each walk).The author is a biologist who has lived on the island for over a decade, working with various non-governmental organisations and the Marine National Park; she is particularly interested in sea turtle research and conservation of the islands many habitats.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This guidebook is an ideal companion for motorists who want to tour Zakynthos by car, as well as those planning a holiday walking in Zakynthos. The book combines the best features of Sunflower's 'Landscapes' walking and car touring guides with all the detail you would expect in a hefty general guide. Coverage includes:

o getting there and getting about

o recommended accommodation and restaurants

o practicalities A-Z

o history

o 22 main walks with many variations, all with both hand-drawn and GPS-compatible maps

o fold-out GPS-compatible island map

o copious notes on geology, flora and fauna (all illustrated).

Although this is a general guide to the island, there is special emphasis on the countryside and the National Marine Park (where the author works for the protection of sea turtles), about which there is copious information. Even non-walkers will appreciate the walking sections: while the walk descriptions themselves are brief, each walk is followed by two facing pages focussing on the island's geology, habitats, agriculture, flora and wildlife - all illustrated.

4 car tours (with accompanying area maps); 22 walks, each with several variations and charmingly 'mapped out' with the author's own 3D drawings and showing GPS waypoints; 50 pages of nature notes (all illustrated), 2 GPS-compatible touring/walking maps covering the whole island; plan of Zakynthos Town; downloadable GPS waypoints and intermediate coordinates. Free online update service with specific route change information on the publisher's website, maintained daily.

I searched everywhere. On the Internet, in libraries, in every bookstore that I could find, but although I found a lot of general guides on the Greek islands, they could only provide a small description of [Zakynthos] and all the common tourist attractions - water park, navaggio, carreta turtles, etc. Having the experience of Paris, when doing some walking tours in the old town was the best part of our trip, we searched for the same thing for Zakynthos, but weren't really finding anything. When this book opened its pages to us, it was all we are looking for, and even more. I think one of the best things about the book is that the author, Gail Schofield, lives there and knows the surrounding and also that she was a zoology student, so has insights on all the plants and animals that live on the island. A book on culture and architecture is a marvel in large cities, but on islands like Zakynthos, where the main attraction is its savageness, you need to know everything about the environment, beaches and life in general. I skimmed the book preparing for our trip, and I found interesting the fact that it has hand-drawn maps of every walking tour, a thing that I haven't encountered that frequently in travel books. The illustrations of plants and animals are also high quality but the best part of the book is the folding map at the end which is by far the most complete map I have found to date. It has all the walking tours and car tours on it so you don't have to struggle planning them by yourself and if you go on the official site you can also download the GPS waypoints for the walking tours (that of course if you're not to lazy to enter them yourself from the end of the book). I highly recommend this book to anyone visiting Zakynthos. --(RP, Amazon)

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Sunflower Books
• Date d'édition: 2011
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1856914011
• ISBN 13: 9781856914017
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 3
• Nombre de pages: 184
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible