Patrick Leigh Fermor

Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was born in London, of mixed English and Irish descent (son of the famous geologist Sir Lewis Leigh Fermor and Muriel Aeyleen). He is considered one of the greatest travel writers of our time. At the age of 18, in 1933, instead of pursuing the military career for which he was destined, he crossed the English Channel and began to walk across Europe, aiming for Constantinople. Driven by his insatiable curiosity about the world, he accomplished this legendary feat, enduring trials and adventures. He reached Constantinople on New Year's Day in 1935. From there, he traveled to Greece, stayed on Mount Athos, and journeyed through Epirus, Macedonia, and Central Greece, learning the customs and language of the country that was to become his second home. When World War II was declared, he returned to England and enlisted in the Irish Guards. Due to his knowledge of Greek, he was then placed as a liaison officer with the Greek Army. With the collapse of the Albanian front, he found himself in Crete. There, disguised as a shepherd, he lived in the mountains for two years, organizing the resistance efforts. He led the group that kidnapped the German commander, General Kreipe. He never mentioned this incident in his books. The story of Kreipe's abduction became known from the book "Ill Met by Moonlight" by Bill Stanley Moss, Fermor's deputy in the mountains, and from the film adaptation in which Dirk Bogarde portrayed Fermor. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1944 and the Order of the British Empire in 1943 and was declared an honorary citizen of Heraklion, Crete. In 1990, he was made an honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Kent. However, Greece won his heart, and he spent most of his time in Kardamyli, Mani, in a house he designed with his wife, the unforgettable photographer Joan Leigh Fermor (who passed away in 2003), whose photographs are included in his books "Mani" (1958) and "Roumeli" (1966). Other books include the travelogue "The Traveller's Tree" (1950), about his travels in the Caribbean, and "A Time of Gifts" (1977), about the first phase of his journey to Constantinople, considered by many to be his masterpiece, as well as the novel "The Violins of Saint-Jacques" (1953). In recognition of his contributions to literature, he was knighted by the Queen of England. He passed away at the age of 96 on Friday, June 10, 2011, in a hospital in England, where he had been urgently transferred from Kardamyli and Athens.