Ancient Knossos, Crete, Greece.

Travel Date 14th July 2013

Knossos is only a few km out of town on the fringe of the suburbs and can be reached on the local inexpensive bus. I have always wanted to see it, ever since I first read about the ancient Minoans and the re-discovery of the ancient palace. 

I thought I would arrive early and avoid the crowds. I failed. The queue was very long in the hot sun. There was shade under this canopy, but it took quite a while to reach this point and even longer to reach the ticket office.

When I reached the front, after buying my ticket I repaired immediately to the nearby cafe for a cold beer. It was over 35C in the shade according to the weather report that day, and much hotter than that in the sun.

I will let the pictures tell most of the story, with a few words of explanation between them.

Arthur Evans, an English archaeologist, is responsible for the Knossos we know today. He was shown the site by a local man in 1894 and made excavation and reconstruction of parts of the palace his life's work after that. 

Unfortunately his work has led to controversy, because his reconstructions owe much to his own vision of how things were in Minoan times and many of his reconstructions have made deeper archaeological investigion of sections of the site impossible. An excellent description of Evans and Knossos history is here: Arthur Evans & the Minotaur.

 

 

Over the past ten years I have visited many ancient sites. When looking at Knossos it was hard not to compare with Mycenae, Pompeii, Rome, Petra, Jerash, Trier and Athens among others. To be honest, although I am very glad I went and I enjoyed the experience, I also have to agree with those who criticised Evans for his anachronistic attempts at reconstruction of Knossos as he imagined it. 

It is true that the use of concrete and paint make the ancient buildings easier to visualise, but the whole place took on the air of a Las Vegas version rather than the real thing. One is often left wondering how much is really as it used to be, how much is as Evans believes it was and how valid his imagining of Minoan life was.

The local tourism industry would disagree because the crowds at Knossos were greater than any I encountered at those other sites, with the possible exception of Petra. Hopefully the site will go through restoration rather than reconstruction over the next few decades.

 

 

 

There is archaeological evidence of human habitation on Crete going back nearly 10,000 years. For those interested in more details I found an excellent brief history of Cretan civilisation on this web-site: History of Minoan Crete. Knossos was built in the period known as Neopalatial around 1700-1400 BC.

Mid-way through wandering the site I sat for a while in the beautiful location imagining life for a Minoan.

 

They developed one of the most advanced civilisations of any ancient era, long before the time of Alexander. The Minoans were almost as ancient to him as he is to us.

Earlier I mentioned the early Cretan's development of indoor sanitation and water supply. I believe these pictures show part of the system. Possibly this is a section modern Cretans might benefit from studying more closely...

Their civilisation was eventually destroyed by Mother Nature when Thera exploded in volcanic fury about 1475-1450 BC with a resultant tsunami. That was followed by an invasion by Mycenaeans, a civilisation which had already embraced much of the Minoan culture through trade prior to that invasion. The Minoans never recovered from those events.

The queue waiting to see the Throne Room

Throne Room, left side

Throne Room, right side

The entry queue was even longer when I left in the afternoon. I am very pleased I saw Knossos but I left a little sad.

Cheers, Alan

Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Heraklion mole and fort protecting the harbour.

 Travel Dates 12th-16th July 2013 
 
I arrived without drama at Heraklion Airport and took a cab to the Kronos Hotel. I booked it months in advance after reading many positive reviews on the web. In the main they were accurate, with some minor exceptions. It is in a great location near the harbour and an easy walk up the hill to the centre of town or along the foreshore to the mole or harbour-side restaurants. 

The room I eventually accepted after a problem with a smoky-smelling first offer was small but comfortable with an oblique balcony view of the sea. I enjoyed my stay there. The only jarring note was the sign in the bathroom advising that used toilet paper must not be flushed down the toilet but placed in the bin. The lady managing the hotel told me that the plumbing system would be blocked if paper is flushed. Later, when I visited Knossos and was reminded that the ancient Minoans were one of the first civilisations to develop indoor sanitation I wondered why the modern Cretans did not seem to have moved far in that field since.

Apart from seeing Knossos I had no plans for Crete. My main intention was to take it easy and relax. Although there were many tourists, Heraklion was more laid back than Rhodes. The average age of the tourists appeared to be ten to twenty years older than Rhodes, with fewer teens and twenties and more in their forties and fifties. There were even some fossils of my own vintage.

Despite the tourists the harbour and the sea are still the focus of the town. The giant ferries bring most of the tourists to town, the fishermen still sell their catch on the mole and the harbour is packed with boats of all sizes.

I walked a lot over the next few days, covering most of the central town within the old walls. 

 

 

There did not appear to be an 'old town' preserved in the same way as those I visited in Iberia, Morocco and Rhodes. Instead various old structures were surrounded by modern buildings. The ancient harbour docks are the structures on the centre right of the picture, well above the modern waterline.

 

Several old sites such as the old dockyards were restored or in the process of restoration and some sites, such as Agios Petros monastery near the hotel, appeared to be active archaeological sites.

 

For most lunches and some dinners I again chose the tasty delights of Greek gyro pitas. A 15cm (6”) circle of pita bread formed into a cone around a filling of marinated gyro-roasted lamb with onions, tomato, possibly other vegetable choices and garnished with tzatziki. Cheap fast food but always delicious. I didn't encounter a gyro pita I didn't like. I usually washed it down with the local beer. A full meal for under 5 Euros. Better still, my blood glucose meter approved the meal an hour after eating. 

When I got tired of gyros there were wonderful fish and seafood choices. One of my favourites in mediterranean countries is mussels.

 

At one stage while wandering in the western outskirts of town I walked into a bar that was a step back in time. The only sign of modernity was an old TV flickering on the wall. The service was similar to Spanish tapas, with a snack appearing automatically together with my order of a glass of inexpensive but very good house red wine, ordered by sign language as he spoke no English and I spoke no Greek. After a few glasses of wine, along with the Greek 'tapas', I no longer needed lunch. This was a bar that would rarely see a tourist. After a while another customer appeared who spoke good English. I had an enjoyable chat about many things, none of which I can recall now. Maybe it was more than a few glasses of wine. Unfortunately, it was my second last day and I had no time to return the next day. Although I may not recall the details of the conversation it was a pleasant afternoon I will never forget.

On my last evening these very loud and cheerful ladies were conducting a protest or demonstration. I have no idea what it was about but the local constabulary appeared to be very concerned as they vastly outnumbered the protesters.
 

 

While in Heraklion I visited Knossos. That post will follow this.

After four pleasant days I left Heraklion for Paris on Aegean Air relaxed and refreshed. 

Cheers, Alan