Between the Woods and the Water (Patrick Leigh Fermor, 1986)

I became aware of this book in a discussion of "travel" books.  It's that - and much more.  Relatively short.  Delightful.  (It's also a wonderful companion to this book about pre-WWI Austria - pure coincidence I read them so closely in time.)  

In the 1930s, the author (Fermor) - then youthful - set off on foot from Holland to Constantinople (as it was then known) after not thriving at school in England.  He took notes along the way, in varying degrees of detail depending on circumstances.  (Yes, it's quite a journey.)

In the 1940s, Fermor was in the British army - interestingly, using his knowledge of the area that included Greece and Crete (in part learned on the 1930s stroll-about) - and became a well-known war hero.  He parachuted into Crete, kidnapped a German general, smuggled him into Egypt.  Among other things.

In his 60s, Fermor started turning his 1930s adventures into book form.  So he was a very different Fermor than the wandering youth.  I'm guessing this is one of the two biggest reasons why the book works so well.  The book was intended to be released in three parts (though the third part didn't happen).  This book is number two in the sequence - when Fermor, 19 years old, travels from the Danube on the border between Hungary and Slovakia, to the "Iron Gates" at the border of Romania and (what was then called) Yugoslavia.  This book was written in the 1980s.

The other big reason the book is so wonderful - the timing of his walk - 1930s - much had already changed as a result of World War I, but Fermor saw, up-close, a world that was shattered in the 1940s and isolated behind the Iron Curtain for 40+ years thereafter.  The stories of his encounters seem scarcely possible in the 20th century.  Yet it was written less than 30 years ago - amazing.

Some things I liked:

1.  His use of the English language is delightful.

2.  As this book so interestingly explained - this part of the world was actually heavily integrated into Europe for centuries - after decades behind the Iron Curtain, we tend to think of its separate-ness, or other-ness.  This biography of Lizst made the same point in a different way.  Educated folks in this part of the world looked to the West prior to WWII, and were part of "Europe."

3.  As this book so interestingly explained - this part of the world also was heavily involved with the East - primarily the Ottoman Turks.  Extensive Muslim influence going back centuries.  Fermor wandered near many famous battlegrounds.  Hungary was dominated by Constantinople for many years.

4.  Fermor intended to live among the commoners while traveling on foot.  But he had introductions to nobility in Hungary, and was rather passed along from welcoming house to welcoming house (all the way into Romania).  He expressed some guilt about straying from plan, but clearly was massively enjoying these encounters.  Hungarian nobility wasn't necessarily all that wealthy, at least in a cash sense, in those days.  And there were lots of Hungarian counts floating around.  But they certainly retained the old traditions of hospitality.

5.  Interesting background on the Magyars, Habsburgs, etc.  And about rivalries with Romania, Serbia, etc.  He covers the Louis Kossuth events, which were interestingly explained in this book. 

6.  He wanders through Romania - which included areas of Hungarian population - explains Vlad the Impaler plus the Dracula origins (derived from dragon).  Explains the wandering tribes that, over the centuries, populated these areas.

7.  Carpathians, Wallachia, Moldova.  Now I have a better feel for this geography.  (Which is helping as I finish a book about the Red Army heading toward Berlin in 1944.)

8.  Fermor encounters numerous gypsy settlements.  And old-style shepherds.  In the 20th century!

9.  He runs into odd Christian and Jewish sects - fascinating histories - thoroughly isolated - reformation and counter-reformation reached here, but only about so much.

10.  Old-style forests - beautiful descriptions of nature - where wolves and bears still lived.

11.  Certainly didn't know or recall that the Romans were very active in campaigns against the Dacians.  Which does bring to mind "Romania" as a place-name.  High level of activity right near the "Iron Gates." 

This book was fascinating in its own right, but fit in so well with other things I find interesting.