by beatriceotto | Sep 27, 2018 | a quote to note
Here Patrick Leigh Fermor tests the veracity of a much touted myth about Maniots in the Peloponnese being bull wrestlers. I liked the progressive debunking of the myth, starting out with simple denial, then embellished with further evidence, all the way down to a tin...
by beatriceotto | Sep 25, 2018 | triologisms
Despite the manifest hospitality, the flask-wielding host sounds like a walking health hazard. However, by the time you succumb to his antimicrobial prescriptions, you may be past caring, given how great you’ll feel. Regardless, I wish you optimism, vigour and...
by beatriceotto | Sep 25, 2018 | triologisms
Beware the bullet-echoing crags, wherever they are. You can hear those cowboy-film ricochets in this one. ‘… bullet-echoing crags of Acroceraunia and Epirus and Acarnania just over the water.’ Source: Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani: Travels in the...
by beatriceotto | Oct 23, 2017 | metaphors
Leigh Fermor describes the unexpected hospitality and kindness encountered in the Mani after having been warned that his throat would more likely be slit. I found this description of meals appearing quite magical, as if ravens were waiting on you. I was also surprised...
by beatriceotto | Oct 23, 2017 | metaphors
One of many descriptions of staggering heat and light in the Mani. ‘The stone flags at the water’s edge … flung back the heat like a casserole with the lid off.’ Source: Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese,...
by beatriceotto | Oct 9, 2017 | metaphors
Leigh Fermor finds many ways to convey the unforgiving heat and light of the sun in the Mani, so strong as to feel like a curse more than a blessing. ‘The sun beat down like a curse.’ Source: Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese,...
by beatriceotto | Sep 26, 2017 | triologisms
Another vivid image of this lunar landscape, boulders both too big and too small to step on, instead being the perfect size to catch and break your ankles as you walk. And always, in the Mani, the ‘stagnant glare’ of the sun. ‘At last, panting,...
by beatriceotto | Sep 26, 2017 | triologisms
A rugged description of all-enduring peasants who survive in a brutal landscape. ‘The three young fruiterers … seemed queerly townish after the rough-hewn peninsulars.’ Source: Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese,...
by beatriceotto | Sep 26, 2017 | triologisms
Two ideas were imprinted on my mind in Leigh Fermor’s description of the Mani landscape – unremitting heat and unforgiving rock. ‘The Deep Mani road still hobbled on a for a few miles, the cratered and rock-strewn surface becoming more lunar in...
