Legendary Places (Marshall Travel Atlas S.)

by James Harpur (Author), Jennifer Beatrice Westwood (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1997

  $3.22

  This is a comprehensive reference to over 35 places of legend, including sites, cities and landscapes. It includes a seven-page gazetteer giving insight into travel and accommodation, and what to see and do at the places featured in the book. Locator maps direct the reader to each area. The atlas charts a worldwide journey through varied territory, beginning where legend, myth and reality meet. These are the eternal realms, such as the Garden of Eden, Camelot and Avalon, which cannot now be seen, but which have for centuries motivated explorers, writers and artists. The natural settings are as varied as those of Hawaii's Haleakala Crater, Japan's Mount Fuji and India's River Ganges. These landscapes are places where gods and heroes are believed to have walked on Earth. In such environs, human endeavour has created sacred wonders: the Tomb of Tutankhamun cut from the Valley of the Kings; the Mayan city of Tikal in the heart of the Guatamalan jungle; and Ohio's Serpent Mound, created by ancestors of the Native Americans. Man-made beauty and monuments are the stuff of legend too, from the Taj Mahal to the Forbidden City and Elsinore. And legendary places can embody the triumph of human courage over adversity, as witnessed in the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral.