The sizes of Mykonos, Delos, Paros, and Santorini together equal only five percent of the island of Crete, our next and final stop in the Aegean. One hundred sixty miles long and shaped like an elongated water bug, Crete is the largest of Greece’s six thousand islands (227 of them inhabited). It is also the farthest south, 180 miles from the Libyan coast, and the most populated, with more than 600,000 residents. An impressive mountain range covered with snow in winter months forms the island’s backbone; below are valleys, plateaus, gorges, rivers, and lakes. Olives, grapes, and citrus trees grow in parallel lines on the fertile plateaus. Humans have lived on Crete as far back as 130,000 years ago, and Europe’s first advanced civilization, the Minoans, flourished here during the Bronze Age. There is far too much to explore in one blog, so I’m dividing the island in two. In this place blog, we’ll visit the interior; in the next, the coast.
Crete, landscape near Vori.
The palace of King Minos:
Knossos.
Our first morning on Crete, ahead of the tourist crowds, we visited the world-famous archaeological site of Knossos, southeast of the capital city of Heraklion. Ceremonial and political center of the Minoan Civilization, the early palace at Knossos was built on hilly terrain around 1900 BC atop earlier settlements; rebuilt several times after earthquakes and invasions; and abandoned for unknown reasons around 1200 BC. Somewhat dazed at the site’s size and complexity, we trekked around an abundance of rubble walls, creatively recreated rooms, large pottery vats, walkways and stairways, a central courtyard and a theater. In the distance, olive trees rimmed a low-lying hill. The excavation reveals the highly sophisticated Minoan architecture, with its multiple stories, ceremonial halls, public storerooms and workshops, an elaborate throne room, royal apartments, and bathrooms with an ingenious drainage system. Richly colored frescoes and murals decorate the walls. Because of the palace’s location and mazelike design, many believe this is the legendary home of King Minos. The mythology surrounding Knossos is more complex than the palace itself, featuring everything from an enchanted bull to a love-struck daughter (much more in next week’s story).
Two villages:
Vori.
Following the bustle of Knossos, we appreciated our next stop, the quiet village of Myrtia, birthplace of the writer Nikos Kazantzakis (of Zorba the Greek fame). Before lunch, we visited a traditional pottery factory, where lovely pottery is still fashioned by hand on a wheel and baked in a kiln, techniques similar to those used by the Minoans.
The next day, we visited another interior village, Vori, home to a small ethnological museum featuring customs and traditions of rural Crete. Officially protected, the village looks much as it did a century or two ago, with whitewashed homes, well-kept churches, and a tiny outdoor park with tables, where we sampled Greek coffee. On this hilly terrain, angled rows of olive trees grow atop reddish beige soil, with hazy mountains in the distance.
The birthplace of European Civilization:
Gortyna.
Before visiting Vori, we returned to Greek mythology at the partially excavated ancient city of Gortyna, in the fertile Messara plain of south-central Crete. The island’s largest city during Roman times, Gortyna existed for thousands of years before that. Walking along dusty paths, we touched the bark of ancient olive trees; studied columns containing the Gortyn Code, the oldest example of ancient Greek law; peered into the ruins of a sixth-century Byzantine basilica, burial place of St. Titus; climbed the steps of a Roman amphitheater; and stood under a spindly evergreen plane tree. Under this tree, legend has it, the Greek god Zeus deflowered the human princess Europa, fathering the three great Minoan kings of Crete, including Minos. The rest, as they say, is European history.
The home of King Rhadamanthys:
Phiastos Disc.
Another Minoan king, brother of Minos, was Rhadamanthys, and the archaeological site of Phaistos, southwest of Gortyna, is believed to have been his home. The second largest city of Minoan Crete, Phaistos was built around 1900 BC on a hill overlooking Mount Idi, Crete’s tallest mountain at 8,058 feet. Not as creatively restored as Knossos, Phaistos is nevertheless an impressive sprawl of courtyards, wide staircases, and stone walls. However, by the time we wandered through these excavations, we had become a bit archaeologied-out, and surveyed with exhausted eyes the fascinating ruins of another ancient palace. Found here was the Phaistos Disc, a six-inch clay disc inscribed with pictorial symbols representing the Minoan writing system. Like many of the most important finds in Crete’s ancient Minoan cities, the disc is displayed at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which we will visit in the next place blog.
