In the summer of 1946, Kazantzakis set out on what later turned out to be his final journey to Europe. After staying in England for a while, as a guest of the British Council, he moved to Paris, where he was appointed as a literary advisor to UNESCO.

In March 1948 he resigned to settle permanently in Antibes on the French Côte d’Azur. The closing decade of his life was equally intense and creative; having gained international recognition, he wrote novels and plays, translated books and went on travels.

From 1951 onwards his health went into steady decline. He lost his right eye, and on several occasions was admitted to the University of Freiburg Clinic to undergo treatment for the benign lymphatic leukaemia that plagued him.

Nevertheless, he began working with Kimon Friar on the English translation of the Odyssey, a work which provoked intense reaction among clerical circles and led to demands that he be prosecuted.