Between the Woods and the Water

On Foot to Constantinople from the Hook of Holland: The Middle Danube to the Iron Gates

By: Patrick Leigh Fermor

Narrated by: Crispin Redman

Winner of the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, Silver PEN Award, 1987.The acclaimed travel writer's youthful journey - as an 18-year-old - across 1930s Europe by foot began in A Time of Gifts, which covered the author's exacting journey from the Lowlands as far as Hungary.

Picking up from the very spot on a bridge across the Danube where his readers last saw him, we travel on with him across the great Hungarian Plain on horseback, and over the Romanian border to Transylvania.The trip was an exploration of a continent which was already showing signs of the holocaust which was to come. Although frequently praised for his lyrical writing, Fermor's account also provides a coherent understanding of the dramatic events then unfolding in Middle Europe. But the delight remains in travelling with him in his picaresque journey past remote castles, mountain villages, monasteries and towering ranges.

©1986 The estate of Patrick Leigh Fermor (P)2014 John Murray Press

Critic reviews

"Between the Woods and the Water is a book so good you will resent finishing it" ( Sunday Times)
"The finest travelling companion we could ever have... His head is stocked with cultural lore and poetic fancy to make every league an adventure." ( Christopher Hudson, Evening Standard)

A beautiful story and painting of Central Europe

Beautifully narrated and marvelously written. Many things are still actual in Romania and Hungary. Loved it

Triumvirate of Story Tradition

The narrative & reader were enough to keep us listening; the effortless weaving of Eastern European backstory added to the memory of the beloved physical landscape that shaped so many people he met. Also the details of their homes & hospitality!🇷🇴🇭🇺

Harkening back. 

Such a well told travel tale by a polymath adventurer, about a time that no longer exists. 
Steeped in history, and imbued with the richest of language.
The reader is exceptional in intonation and nuance. A delicious meal of a book. 

Essential Travelogue

Fermor walks across Europe to Turkey and meets all sorts of interesting people. He beautifully documents the people, the languages, the cultures, the architecture, the politics of the time. If you've never read a travelogue start here.

Amazing!

I wish Fermor would walk across every country on earth, and then come to a boozy dinner party and tell me about it for hours. A great story.

I loved this book, this journey, even though it br

I loved this book, this journey, even though it broke my heart. An amazing journey through interwar Europe. Patrick Fermor got to experience so much of what has been lost forever, architecturally, environmentally, socially. I can't thank him enough for putting his experiences down on paper for us all to read. Fermor has such a refreshing, open perspective on everything he comes accross. And the central European history tidbits are wonderful and interesting, too.

The only possible downside I can think of is that Fermor sprinkles a significant amount of terminology and vocabulary throughout his books that was new to me, and since I tend to listen while driving, I was not able to remember some specifics long enough to look any of it up. (Except for the walking stick he bought in Germany, and the landsknechts).
Last but not least, the person reading the book was perfect for the job.

Maybe it was me, but I wasn't awed by these books

I liked this one a bit better than the first one, as he was more outside his comfort zone in areas where German wasn't as widely spoken. However, a fair amount was less travel narrative than the antics of his noble hosts, or historical digression. I was fully used to the audio narrator, so the plummy tones didn't affect me as much this time. Think I'll try re-reading the print editions sometime in the future to see whether that makes a difference.