The Mani, at the tip of Greece’s–and Europe’s–southernmost promontory, is one of the most isolated regions of the world. Cu...
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reviews
Jul 26, 2011
Bruce
rated it: 
To lie in a hammock in the north woods watching the sky - cobalt, cirrus, gull-etched - and feel its gentle sway, to listen to the twitter of songbirds and the chatter of gray squirrels, to watch the rippling of the lake and hear its soughing on the shore, and, above all, to accompany all of this with the reading of the limpid prose of Patrick Leigh Fermor is summer paradise indeed.
Leigh Fermor died not long ago, before I had even heard of him, my awareness triggered by John’s admirati More...
Leigh Fermor died not long ago, before I had even heard of him, my awareness triggered by John’s admirati More...
Nov 06, 2009
Heather
rated it: 
have taken this book on my daily study break walks in city creek and the foothills during this great indian summer we're having. finished it today soaking up the warm feel of the sun on my skin while my heart and mind were in village, sea, and mountain of greece. ultimately not plf's best book--found it to be drier than his others. yet still had plenty of succinct poetic prose capturing the soul of a place and its people. which continues to make him such a classic read. still very much inspire
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Apr 21, 2010
Jim
rated it:
If there is a Pantheon of travel writers, I should think that Patrick Leigh Fermor should rank near the top, alongside H. V. Morton, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Robert Byron (The Road to Oxiana), Graham Greene (The Lawless Roads and Journey Without Maps), D. H. Lawrence, Norman Douglas, and Lawrence Durrell.
Fermor is famous for paragraphs, sentences, and long rolling lists that the reader never wants to come to the end of. Try this one on for size:
Fermor is famous for paragraphs, sentences, and long rolling lists that the reader never wants to come to the end of. Try this one on for size:
There, by the Golden Gate, inMore...
Sep 26, 2009
Lance
rated it:
This book inspired our recent trip to Greece. We had hoped to at least see Fermor's home in Kardamyli, but couldn't find a definite match without trespassing all over the place. (Fermor wrote a feature on his home for an architecture mazagine, so I could have identified the place if I got close enough to look through windows!) People told us he had moved back to the UK, so we didn't have a chance to meet the great man himself.
As with all of Fermor's writing, there are places where More...
As with all of Fermor's writing, there are places where More...
Apr 17, 2009
Christopher
rated it: 
Not as enchanting as A Time of Gifts or Between the Woods and the Water, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese is still wonderful escapist stuff. I found myself scanning over general mythological references, a history of mythical beasts, a comparison of Eastern mysticism to Western literalism and respective religious art, an analysis of Mani blood feuds, and other digressions, while clinging to and rereading the jewels of narrative scattered throughout the book.
PLF's description More...
PLF's description More...
Jan 31, 2009
David Singerman
rated it:
It's wonderful writing as always and he clearly loves this forgotten little corner of Greece. But it doesn't have the drive of his walk through Europe, in a few ways. Most obviously it lacks the sense of direction, literally, that Fermor conveyed with his journey from Holland to Istanbul. That kept the book moving, it kept Fermor moving, and it gave the whole enterprise a sense of urgency. The best parts and the worst parts of the book are his long (and I mean very long) digressions on some unea
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Jan 08, 2009
Paul
rated it:
I guess you could read this as a companion to _Roumeli_, Fermor's travel book about Northern Greece, but it's really a different animal, appropriate to the vastly different physical and cultural landscape. Which makes it the best one-off book of pure travel writing ever (gotta have an exception for Kapuscinski).
Jul 25, 2011
Kate
rated it:
So very interesting geographicaly,& historicaly. His personality& humour shine through the beautifully written prose. His sympathy with the local people & their way of life is extraordinary.
Jul 11, 2011
David
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One needs to admire those early explorers who traveled into this hard to reach region of southern Greece and porduce a stunning account.
Aug 25, 2011
Dit moet ik nog lezen maar het zou een hele goeie reisschrijver moeten zijn, die te voet vanuit Engeland naar Turkije trok.
Jul 20, 2011
Greg
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Simply sensational writing of a type seldom seen among most travel writers!
Jun 06, 2008
Tiloma
rated it:
I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this, but whatever hesitations I had were immediately dispelled as I started to delve into the book and his recounting of his experiences in the Mani. The towers in barren hillsides, the description of simple meals shared and conversations gleaned, the way we go from the rocky mani to the cool mediterreanean and a subterreanean cave which was thought to be an entrance to Hades -- he combines real documentary style with mythic flights of fancy
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Jan 29, 2008
Dan
rated it:
Fermor can be a bit over the top showing off his tremendous erudition, but he's a great adventurer (who once parachuted into German-occupied Crete & kidnapped the commanding general) and traveling companion. Here, in the 1950s, he scrambles over and around the forboding mountains of southern Greece and visits with shepherds, sailors, farmers, and priests while weaving in a history of Byzantium. Marvelous stuff. Next to Robert Byron (1940s "Road to Oxiana"), he's my favorite intrepid
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Apr 29, 2008
Stuart
rated it:
Wish you could speak Greek? Like to walk through the mountains of so. greece with your girlfriend and visit places where the gods lived? Wish you had a girl/boy friend who would do that? Like to drink ouzo before lunch with the old guy locals? Like to hear a guy talk about the layers of cultural history here like he's lived through it all? If not, then don't read this book, because he uses big words in wonderful ways!
Nov 28, 2011
Mark
rated it:
Leigh Fermor is my new favorite travel writer. His deep description of The Mani--a small mountainous peninsula in the southern Peloponnese--stands out as one of the best examples of descriptive travel writing today. He makes use of realism, humor and historical overlay to depict a scorched landscape filled with vendetta obsessed equivalents of the Hatfields and McCoys.
Aug 04, 2011
Kelly
rated it:
Incredible book - anyone who visits greece should read this first. Fermor may have traveled here 50 or 60 years ago, but his love for the country never ages.
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