Greece on My Wheels

Rating:
Summary: Highly agreeable
Review: "Agreeable" is the word the author's son uses to describe the book in the foreword, and it does well. Enfield is amusing, insightful, sympathetic -- a pleasure to be around. He seems to be without the least hint of shyness or self-consciousness, and equally without the least hint of brashness, a combination that Americans find almost impossible to achieve. This is an account of two bicycle trips through Greece, taken in his mid or late 60s, and both are described in loving detail. He meets all sorts of people and condescends to none of them, and even tosses in some rather moving history. The book is mostly a travelogue with some elements of guide book intermixed.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing bike ride
Review: I would have given this book five stars but I was put off by the author's ill-concealed anti-American disposition. I know this is not a good critical canon, but still ... He shows how little he knows about Americans when he tells a Greek waiter that the usual American reply to "thank you" is "don't mention it." Rubbish. Anyway, this is a very well written chronicle of two trips the author did in Greece on his bicycle. And get this: he made these trips when he was 69. That is impressive. As I read of his adventures the expression "ups and downs" took on new meaning. From city to city he describes how difficult the climb can be (on some stretches he pushes the bike while walking) and on the downward slopes he describes the beauty of the landscapes and the pleasure of feeling the wind in his face.
The first trip is all around the Peloponnese, including the mysterious area called the Mani where Patrick Leigh Fermor has a house. I was disappointed that the author finds Leigh Fermor's works "too learned" to be readable. I cannot agree with him that Patras is a dreadful place but I agree wholeheartedly that Kalamata is wretched.
The book's second part covers another trip in Epirus, and it is fascinating. With regard to the places I have visited, I agree with most of what the author says. And in the case of those places I still have not seen, his descriptions have done a lot to increase my desire to go there.
This book includes several appendices giving information on some earlier Enlgish travelers, including Lord Byron. The author seems to have a special veneration for Byron and this gives the whole book a dimension of added human warmth that I enjoyed reading.