Thursday March 05, 2009

A Time Of Gifts..

This book by Paddy ( Patrick ) Leigh Fermor is a classic. It is the first of three books ( the last has not been written and may never be) on his trip from the UK to Constantinople. The trip was made just after Hitler came to power and starts with a brief autobiography of his life before he made the trip. By all accounts he was a wild child, his family lived in India where his father worked and he was left behind with a family and he pretty much did what he liked. He got thrown out of school and then decided on a whim to make this trip. He kept a journal of the trip but it was only after he was re-united with it that he wrote these books in the 1970's. His historical knowledge and love of languages is quite amazing for someone so young at the time he did the journey.

The incredible thing is he undertook this journey on foot. He did get a few freebie trips on boats/lorries but he had strict guidelines before he accepted such lifts. His accomodation given he was living off a small amount of money varied from barns sleeping on straw to plush 'stately homes' as we now call them ( where he was invited to stay). Wherever he went he marveled at the buildings and took in the culture unusual for someone so young. People were very kind to him and often allowed him a stranger to stay in their houses. Of course WW2 was around the corner and already Europe was getting ready for those dark years but there was no bad feelings towards him at all.

At one point his rucksack was stolen and he to go to the local embassy in Germany to get replacement papers. The embassy also loaned him a fiver which in true Fermoor style was returned to them as soon as he could. He also lost his diary in the theft. He had arranged for money to be sent to various places so he could pick up extra funds on his travels. In Vienna he had a longer stopover and ended up making money by doing drawings for people. He also learnt there that many years ago the Viennese stopped the Turks over running their city and possibly prevented a total Turkish victory over all of Europe. One reason they managed this was they had a wall protecting the city built that was paid with money obtained from the UK to release someone the Viennese had kidnapped. Europe's love affair with coffee started there also when Turks who did not want to return stayed on and introduced the locals to the strange brown liquid. I imagine they did not want to go back as the reception they might have got having not won the battle might have ended up with their untimely death..

Fermor has finished the second book in this series but has not written the last of the three. He needs to get a move on as he is in his early nintees... I will be getting the second book soon.