I re-read this award winning book and its counter-part nearly as frequently as I do Eric Newby's The Last Grain Race, as well as their intense readability, there are similarities - all are set in the 1930s, involve teenagers doing remarkable things, and both the authors had 'good wars' and went on to be famous travel writers. In this case an eighteen year old Patrick Leigh Fermor set out from London in December 1933 to walk to Istanbul, sleeping now in barns, now in castles, losing his meagre possessions here, and being showered with gifts there. It was an extraordinary period in Europe, with Hitler having just come to power in Germany, and Leigh Fermor experienced a world which was shortly to be changed for ever by WW11. Written many years after the events, the writing has considerable maturity and, to an extent, hindsight, but never looses the young man's excitement and sheer joie-de-vie; put simply these are probably the most beautifully written travel books you will ever find. The first volume describes the journey from London down through Holland, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Esztérgom in western Hungary. The second is, in distance terms, more leisurely, describing the onward walk (and ride) through Hungary and Rumania to the Iron Gates of the Danube, near Turnu-Severin. Both are glorious reads! 304 & 253 un-illustrated pages and 1 map respectively. Paperbacks. John Murray Was £ 9.99!