Trips

Fri., 5/11/18 - Heraklion

Today we visited Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete and the island of Spinalonga. Knossos and Crete have been inhabited continually since 6700 to 6800 BCE. There have been many finds from the Stone Age Minoan civilization.

The huge palace at Knossos was destroyed by flood and fire when the Santorini volcano erupted and created a tsunami, circa 1600 BCE. The Mycenaeans took this opportunity to take over the island of Crete and rebuilt the town of Knossos. Arthur Evans, the British Archaeologist who excavated the site in 1900 AD, restored large parts of the palace in a way that it is possible today to appreciate the grandeur and complexity of a structure that evolved over several millennia.

Maria toured us through the ruins: Fresco room with a picture of the leaping bull acrobats (“taking the bull by the horns” and somersault over its back and land on your feet by his tail); the royal box over the courtyard; the throne room; the queen’s “megaron” with a terra cotta bathtub and a flushing toilet. The North Pillar Hall has a bull and olive tree in bas relief.

Prince Charles was coming for a visit to the ruins this afternoon so there were search dogs, security checks, the photographers, and royal guides practicing the route he would take and where photos would be staged. We were glad we came very early to miss the masses hoping to see him.

The Minoan town of Knossos had about 5500 people. The palace housed 270 or 300 royalty.

Palace ruins	Hypostyle Hall (or Customs House)
Original construction	Vase
Horns of consecration	Restoration
View of the hills from the palace
Fresco of the Leaping Bull Acrobats	Stone floors
Throne chamber	Frescos in the throne chamber
Courtyard	Dolphin fresco in the Queen's Megaron
Walls	Restored North entrance with the charging bull fresco
The oldest road in Europe, built by the Minoans around 21 BCE. It connected the palace to both the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.
After our visit to Knossos, we drove 1 1/2 hours along pretty roads lined with Oleander to visit Spinalonga, long spine. The small hilly island was once connected to the peninsula but the causeway submerged as a result of tectonic movement. Crete lies on the edge of the European Plate that is subducting under the African and Asian plates. Crete has many small earthquakes as a result. The Venetians built another fortress against pirates on Spinalonga during the Crusades and held the island until 1669 when the Ottomans took it over. After the Greece-Turkey “swap” the island was returned to Greece. In 1903 it opened as a leper colony which closed in 1957. We took the boat ride to the island and walked along the main path while Maria told us about life in the leper colony. It was not occupied by Nazis in WWII because they did not want to mix with the lepers. This was therefore a safe place for Greek resistance fighters to hide.
Island of Spinalonga
Island of Spinalonga	Mainland from the Island of Spinalonga
Sailing near Spinalonga	Island of Spinalonga
Island of Spinalonga	Venetian Fortifications
Tour guide's "flag"	Ruins at Spinalonga
Ruins at Spinalonga	Bell on Spinalonga
Ruins at Spinalonga	Ruins at Spinalonga
The Mainland	Ruins at Spinalonga
Ruins at Spinalonga	The Mainland
Our boat took us back for a 3 PM lunch at a sea food restaurant overlooking the island. I had chicken, rice, and fries. The group had anchovies, squid, octopus, cuttlefish, potatoes, fish egg mousse, and Greek salad. As tired as we were at 6 PM when we got back to Heraklion, we went next door to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. It is a real jewel! Just a spectacular museum. The first two rooms had things from Neolithic life on Crete and Early Bronze Age (6,000 to 1900 BCE). Outstanding were the gold bee pendant from Malia and the bull leaping fresco from Knossos.
	Wood model of the Palace of Knossos

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