A British scholar, soldier, and one of the greatest prose stylists of 20th-century travel writing, years after the fact, in 1977, Fermor recounts his youthful walk across Europe, in 1933-34, from the Netherlands to Turkey. It combines memory, erudition, and lyricism to capture a continent on the brink of disappearance, and stands out for its unmatched prose and historical poignancy, transforming travel into an act of cultural preservation.

Read more in my post 6 of the Greatest English-Language Travel Books of all Time.