One of my favourite travel writers is Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915- ). I revel in the descriptive fireworks of his 2 best known books, A Time Of Gifts (1977) and its sequel Between the Woods and the Water (1986) - accounts of a youthful journey he made from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. Among other travel writings he's published The Traveller's Tree (1950) about the Caribbean - and 2 books on Greece, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958) and Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece (1966). In these books he explores very remote regions by mule and on foot. Leigh Fermor is passionate about Greece, its people and traditions, its myths and its landscape. He lives there and speaks fluent Greek. During WWII he fought in Greece and Crete, and helped organize the Cretan Resistance as an SOE officer. Disguised as a shepherd, he planned and achieved the capture of the German General Heinrich Kreipe in 1944, a daring operation which was later immortalised in the film Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) starring Dirk Bogarde.Thursday 6 September 2007
Travels In Greece
One of my favourite travel writers is Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915- ). I revel in the descriptive fireworks of his 2 best known books, A Time Of Gifts (1977) and its sequel Between the Woods and the Water (1986) - accounts of a youthful journey he made from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. Among other travel writings he's published The Traveller's Tree (1950) about the Caribbean - and 2 books on Greece, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (1958) and Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece (1966). In these books he explores very remote regions by mule and on foot. Leigh Fermor is passionate about Greece, its people and traditions, its myths and its landscape. He lives there and speaks fluent Greek. During WWII he fought in Greece and Crete, and helped organize the Cretan Resistance as an SOE officer. Disguised as a shepherd, he planned and achieved the capture of the German General Heinrich Kreipe in 1944, a daring operation which was later immortalised in the film Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) starring Dirk Bogarde.
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2 comments:
Thanks so much for the links to Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Recently I read a novel called THE PALE SURFACE OF THINGS, by Janey Bennett. The story takes place on Crete. The beginning of the book didn't engage me, but I kept reading. Well worth my time. Vivid evocation of Cretan people, landscape and history.
Bob said to take what you have gathered from coincidence.
Yes, the best discoveries are often serendipitous.
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