Itisallgreek2me

Thursday, 28 July 2022… It feels like forever since I first wished to visit the Patrick Leigh Fermor home, one of the most beautiful properties in Greece… located in Kalamitsi, just south of Kardamýli.

Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) Paddy, or Kýrios Michális as he was affectionately known, made the Mani internationally famous through his writing. He once wrote “Passing by you see the Mani in 3 days, walking in 3 months and in order to see it’s soul you need 3 lives… one for the sea, one for it’s mountains and one for it’s people.”

One of Britain’s best loved travel writers, at the age of 18 he walked from the hook of Holland to Constantinople. Paddy also played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during WWII. Disguised as a shepherd, he lived for more than 2 years in the mountains and in 1944, led the party that captured German commander General Heinrich Kreipe and whisked him off the island.

Together with his wife Joan, a photographer, they developed a special relationship with Greece and in the 1960’s built their home in Kalamitsi. Paddy lived and wrote in Kalamitsi until the ripe old age of 96, passing away the day after arriving in England where he is buried next to Joan.

In 1996 the Patrick Leigh Fermor home was bequeathed to the Benaki Museum. Over the 3 months of summer, it is rented out and scheduled visits are only on a Monday from 11.00 – 12.00 hours. Since I arrived in Kardamýli on a Tuesday and leave on a Friday, that is of no use to me so yesterday I telephoned, hoping and praying they may allow an exemption to visit but sadly… no 😒😪 However, the lady did explain to me how to find the path leading up to the property.

Left my room early this morning to walk the 2.5km to Kalamitsi… better to at least see the property from behind the wall than not at all. I have to say, what I saw and felt today is really beyond description. It is not difficult to understand why Paddy and Joan bought the plot of land and built their beautiful villa in such a stunning location.

I then went on to spend some time at nearby Kalamitsi Beach. Whilst endeavouring to snap images from the beach of the Fermor home, I got talking to Grigórios and Giánnis, 2 young Greeks in their 20’s, tripping around in their van. They knew about the Fermor home.

Eventually returned to Kardamýli… a somewhat slow walk on an extremely hot day. Tomorrow I will make my way further south to Areópoli.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2022 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.