Crete

We rode an overnight ferry to Crete on Tuesday night. I hate to say that my experience on Crete is tainted by this ferry ride and my first day here, but I think it is. I got terribly sick, probably from the motion of the ferry, and I spent the entire next day sleeping in the hotel. I could not remember feeling that weak or miserable, and I slept for twenty hours Wednesday and Wednesday night. While I was sick, the group visited Vathypetro, Arkhanes, and Anemospilia. Thankfully the recovery was relatively fast.

I joined the group on Thursday, and I participated in everything except for a short hike during the day and dinner that night. We visited Knossos and the Herakleion Museum. Knossos is the site of a Minoan Bronze Age palace, and it is the only palace that survived the great destruction on Crete in the Late Minoan IB period (LMIB). The palace was discovered and excavated by Sir Arthur Evans during the early twentieth century. He used much of the evidence to do reconstruction and restoration to the palace. These restorations have been controversial because they involve changes to the excavation site which rely on incomplete evidence and Evans’ use of biases and personal interpretations. However, the restorations do allow a visitor to better imagine what the palace looked like. The Herakleion Museum was somewhat of a disappointment since it is currently undergoing renovation. Most of its artifacts were not on display, but we were still able to see some great pieces.

On Friday, we visited Phaistos, Ayia Triadha and Gortyn. This was a cold and very rainy day, so we did not spend as much time as we hoped to at each site. Spiros had actually predicted that it would rain Thursday, so we switched the Thursday and Friday schedules. But then it rained on Friday and not Thursday. Oh well. Phaistos is the site of a Minoan palace that was destroyed in the LMIB period. We also stopped at Ayia Triadha, but the site was closed so we were not able to explore it. Then we stopped at Gortyn and saw the inscription of the Law Code of Gortyn, which we read. The Law Code discusses family matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, and the handling of property. It is a long list of laws that begins with the invocation “Gods!”

We spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights in Siteia. Compared to Herakleion, Siteia seemed like a sleepy, dead town. The town is actually much bigger and nicer than we first thought, but it still did not compare to Herakleion. On Sunday night, the group enjoyed a dinner together in celebration of Reed’s birthday. The food was delicious, and it just kept appearing on the table. We had all sorts of traditional Grecian food, and I am learning to like feta cheese! Monday was a free day for studying for our four tests on Tuesday. Matt and I tried to have a quick lunch by walking to a bakery that we had been to on our first day. However, neither of us have senses of direction, and we seemed to go everywhere in Siteia in search of this bakery. We never found it and had to find our way back to the hotel by following the shoreline. We then had gyros at a place next to the hotel. It was a long and very good walk, but definitely not anticipated.
On Saturday, we drove to Malia and Gournia, the sites of two more palaces. Malia was closed, but we did explore Gournia. Then on Sunday, we visited the Siteia Museum and the palace at Zakros.

Overall, visiting Crete was a wonderful experience, as I’m sure every visit on this trip will be. There were some unexpected obstacles such as sickness (for me and others), weather, and sites being closed. However, I would return to Crete anytime just to drive along the coast and see the landscape. We drove through mountains on narrow, circuitous roads, and the views of the water, mountains and countryside were breathtaking. The historical aspect of our tour was challenging because so little is known about Minoan Bronze Age civilization. Most of what we and any archaeologist or historian can do on the subject is speculate. But this requires us to think, and that is why we are on this trip.