4 out of 5 stars
The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.
Greece has been the origin of many things that we take for granted now; democracy, philosophy and rational thought are some of them. The culture and people have persisted from ancient times until the modern day, though they have reinvented themselves time and time again. Its wider influence on other cultures was totally undervalued until this slim book by Robert Byron.
At its heart it is a travel book, there are accounts of the places they go to, the people that they meet and the things that they experience on Mount Athos. But this is also far more than travel writing
As the forty miles stretch out, only a shadow in the haze remains, outlined in the silver gleams of the farther sea; spreading then to a farther shadow – the mainland.
In here Byron celebrate the uniqueness of Greek Orthodoxy, the remoteness of the monasteries and describes the characters that he meets that have chosen a spiritual life over a more secular existence. Him and his fellow travellers are really privileged to be able to do this and take photos of these places that were rarely seen by outsiders.
David and Mark are the companions that are with him on this trip, and they are fortunate to also to get to see some of the religious relics that the monasteries are custodians for. Byron is a sharp observer of the landscapes that they travel through, recounting details that most people wouldn’t ever notice. He describes the meals that they have in such a way hat it made me a little hungry when reading it.
All along above the twining river floats a verdian haze. Far away rise the parallel hills, deepest sapphire, sweeping high and regular as far as the eye can see, with the black and white clouds rolling up, and their shadows like foreign armies traversing the plain. In all lurks the colour of light, of the fire of the earth, burning in watered leaf and sodden plough, catching even the sounds as they run hazard through the air, this colour which Greece knows and other lands do not; and which Greeks have bought to rest, not in stone, but paint.
I really liked this book. Byron’s writing has an intensity to it at times, almost like you are being baked in the Mediterranean sun alongside him. Occasionally it felt like an information dump as he writes about a specific monastery and wants us to know all the facts he uncovered in his visit. I can forgive him for that as when he writes well it soars. I will be bumping The Road To Oxiana up the list.
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