Our guide, Niki, was excited because we are visiting the island where she was born and still lives, when not guiding tours. One of her great redeeming values is she shares stories about her family and childhood. Her family has always been in the olive oil business, currently owning over 500 trees. They do not commercially sell the oil, it is only for their and close friends use. She said this dates back to generations she knows nothing about!
We docked in Rethymno, Crete. The highway out of town was loaded with beach after beach with cushy chairs and good looking sand.
Not sure why this was here but it caught my eye.
Niki had our bus stop at one of her favorite bakeries to buy us a local snack.
The snack bought for us to share. They were still warm!
It was a custard like filling and reminded me of the custard tarts of Portugal.
Scenic highway on the way to the Knossos Palace.
This mountain supposedly is shaped like a man’s head and is prominent in Greek history.
Crete is famous as the foremost location of the Bronze Age, Minoan culture that flourished from 3500BCE until about 1100BCE. Our first visit will be to Knossos, one of the major palaces of the Greek Minoan civilization period. The palace itself is known as the palace of Minos and is noted for its relationship to the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. It was first built around 1900BCE before being destroyed around 1750BCE. The complex was rebuilt and again destroyed around 1450BCE probably by earthquakes. After that the area was ruled by the Mycenaeans who had arrived from mainland Greece. It is often considered to be the oldest city in Europe and is the second most visited archaeological site in Greece (after the Parthenon). I find the timelines fascinating. We are talking about advanced civilizations from 2 millennia BCE. We spent a couple of hours at the Knossos site as Niki told us about its history. It would take a lot more time to really understand what it was all about. I did buy a book on it; hopefully I will find time to read it one of these days!
A map of the Knossos palace area. It was huge.
The west court, one of several entrances to the palace complex.
Pathway next to the walkway that used elaborate stones to enhance its importance.
Niki explaining what this area was for. I do not remember, sorry!
The horned symbol used by the Minoan civilization at that time.
The throne room.
The grand staircase.
View of the elaborate underground system to carry water and sewage.
Examples of the very large containers (called lithos) that were used to store olive oil, grain and wine. It was used locally and traded with other civilizations.
The famous north entrance to the palace. The columns were made of cypress trees that were inverted so that the bottom was narrower than the top to prevent the trees from resprouting. There is a replica of the fresco in the back wall.
The walkway to the nearby village which allowed locals to visit the palace complex.
There is a small theater (behind these people) that could house 3-5000 people.
Group picture in the Knossos Palace.
We retraced our steps to the city of Heraklion, the capital of Crete (population 179,000) and the location of the archeological Museum that happens to contain most of the artifacts from the Konossos Palace and other places that had existed on Crete. Again it was one of those “oh, my gosh” displays of ancient art and life. I am astounded by the age of these artifacts, the technology available to these cultures at that time and the quality of many of the pieces. It is truly amazing!
Model of what they think Knossos looked like. It was BIG!
Story of Neolithic Knossos.
Artifacts from the Neolithic (7000-3000BCE) period.
Clay cups from 4500-3000BCE.
Gold jewelry from 2600-1900 BCE.
Communities grow into towns.
Life in settlements.
Clay pottery from 1900-1800BCE.
A sarcophagus that dates from 2000BCE.
The emrgence of palaces in the 2nd millennia BCE.
The story of the bee pendant.
The bee pendant that dates back to 1700 BCE! Amazing how talented they were even then.
A board game from 1600-1450 BCE.
The draughtboard game.
Note the dainty tea (?) cups.
Seals used to mark goods found in Knossos.
Elaborate clay vessels from 1500 BCE.
Description of the Phaistos Disc from 1700BCE.
The Phaistos disc which was some sort of written language.
Speculation of what the Minoan diet was like.
Cooking utensils of the Minoan culture.
The bull jumping fresco from the Knossos palace, dating from 1600-1400BCE.
The remains of the original bull jumping fresco.
The metal ax was a symbol of the Minoan culture.
A rare carved rock crystal rhyton dating from 1500-1450 BCE.
The story of the
“Snake goddess”.
Snake goddess statues from 1650-1550BCE.
Warrior graves found at Knossos.
Items found in warrior graves at Knossos.
Larnakes, caskets used for burials.
Some burial larnakes.
Karphi goddess statues
Karphi statues dating from 1200-1100BCE.
The Hagia Triada sarcophagus.
The Hadia Triada sarcophagus, dating from 1370-1300 BCE.
Bathtubs from Minoan era.
The “figure of eight shields” fresco found in the Knossos palace.
The original figure of eight shields fresco.
The procession fresco.
What remains of the procession fresco.
Portions of the the procession fresco.
Description of the throne room at Knossos.
Part of a fresco from the throne room.
What remains of a fresco that decorated the walls of a home in Knossos.
There was a late lunch (2PM) in a local Heraklion restaurant and then a return to the boat by 5PM.
Old customs buildings located on the Heraklion waterfront.
The 12th century monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul in Heraklion.
Our luncheon resturant in Heraklion.
Mixed grill entree.
Wine and ouzo for lunch!
My favorite Greek dessert: Loukoumades. They are fried yeast balls drizzled with cinnamon and honey. Marvelous!
The lighthouse in the Rethymnon harbor where we were docked.
Modern housing across from the beaches in Rethymnon.
At 6:30 we were entertained by a local group of dancers who performed some folk dance in native attire,while we enjoyed pre dinner cocktails. Tonight’s dinner was a change of pace in that it featured a Greek inspired buffet. Unfortunately, it came right on the heals of the big, late lunch we had!
Our dinner buffet menu.
Local dancers in typical native dress.
Niki joined them as she knows all the dances.
Octopus appetizers- surprisingly tender.
More dancing in different costumes.
The famous, super sweet baklava, a nut and honey pastry. There was chocolate cake for those on a diet!
And this our visit to Crete and the Minoan civilization came to an end. Time to move on!
