Crete

Thursday, April 5: Arrival in Greece

We arrived in Athens, but did not see our guide/director/shepherd. Gave my ticket to an airline rep who disappeared for some time. When she reappeared she assured us the bags were checked through to Crete and told us our gate number for the flight from Athens to Heraklion, Crete. We met up with our director, Vagilis, at the gate, boarded the flight and flew to Heraklion, but our baggage stayed in Athens, no doubt circling forlornly around indefinitely in the baggage claim area.

We arrived at our hotel sans luggage, had time to freshen up, and went in to dinner. Meantime Vagilis got on the phone and said things to people in Athens. Our bags arrived during dinner, with little "rush" tags on them. Sure glad Vagilis was there. At that point in jet-lagged travel fatigue I think all I would have been able to do was cry. Even if I hadn't been wiped out I'm not sure how effective a non-Greek speaker would have been in getting it all straightened out. The hotel guy said we should be tolerant of a few little foibles, as the airport had only been operational since Sunday. The Greeks are working like mad to get ready for the 2004 Olympic games, and the new airport is part of the preparation.

Dinner at the hotel was excellent, the company congenial. We chatted about the nature of god, the ground of being, and similar light topics for exhausted people. Then to bed at 10PM, but awake about 3AM, the old bod still being on California time. Did manage to doze a bit until 6:30AM.

Friday, April 6: First Palace

Met our Cretan guide, Anna, and went to the archeological museum in Heraklion, where we saw the treasures that had been found in the excavations of the Minoan palaces. My favorite piece was the lid for some pot, which had geometric designs and a bas relief (very high) of a resting dog, which functioned as the handle. Of course there was no post card of it, nor was it pictured in the guide. My tastes don't seem in coincide with the official view of valuable objects.

We then drove to the Minoan Palace at Mallia, which had "bee hive" silos for the storage of offerings, an underground "council chamber" and a bar-b-que pit for preparing sacred meals in the middle of a large courtyard. It started to rain.

Continued our drive and Anna bought us local bananas to stave off starvation. They were smaller than regular bananas but much tastier. We stopped at Kritsa to look at the frescoes in the small church there. It began to be a real downpour outside, and so was very dark in the little church. This made viewing the frescoes in the remoter parts of the church pretty much impossible. The frescoes had been done at 3 or 4 different times, as the church was enlarged. The one near the exterior door, which was basically white, and received the most light, was my favorite. It depicted the joys of Paradise and seemed to almost glow.

Finally stopped for lunch, which was as excellent as dinner had been the night before. At one point I asked Anna if Cretan food was always so good, or if we were just lucky. She said Cretans were very picky about their food, and wanted everything locally grown and extremely fresh. I think we only had one not-so-hot meal the whole time we were in Crete.

Saturday, April 7: Gortyn and Phaistos

Started at 8:30AM, weather clearing, headed across the island. First stop Gortyn, with the basilica of Titus, first bishop of Crete. The basilica is mostly in ruins. Gortyn was an important town in the Roman period, indeed it was the provincial capital, and there are extensive Roman ruins throughout the area. We visited the large odeion (a hall for musical performances). The back wall is composed of blocks with a complete code of laws inscribed in Doric Greek from about the 6th century BC. The code describes two classes of freemen and two classes of slaves, and forbids capital punishment as "barbaric." The area was very peaceful and beautiful, with large mature olive trees and scatterings of wild flowers. The red poppies were especially spectacular, and yellow wild mustard often made a nice backdrop for the poppies.

Then went on to the Palace at Phaistos, with remains from both the first and second palace periods. It is built on a hill overlooking a fertile valley, with a magnificent view of Mt. Ida, snow capped in the distance, the place where Zeus was raised.

Drove on to the fishing port of Matala, with a beach and a cliff with caves. We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking this pictaresque cove. The water was at least 4 distinct and vibrant colors. Again the food was quite good.

We arrived back at the hotel with less than an hour before leaving for a night out with dinner and Greek dancing--a sort of "Cretan Times" restaurant. I stretched out on the bed and was instantly asleep. I was awakened by my friend Ed banging on the door. Everyone else was already on the bus and ready to go. How embarrassing. Hauled myself to bus in record time. We strolled around the village, drank some Raki (a native Cretan version of firewater, which is most potent), went to the restaurant for the show. The dancing and music were wonderful.

Sunday, April 8: Rethymnon

Drove up the coast, first stop Fodhele, the birthplace of El Greco. It was a beautiful, green and pleasant village. I managed to fall in a mud puddle, and bought what I thought would be a medium bag of the local oranges for about $2.50. The guy just kept tossing oranges in the bag, so I ended up with oranges for everyone for the next several days, and left a good sized cache of them behind on the bus when we left. They were the best oranges I had ever had, very juicy and just sweet enough.

Next stop was Spili, another little mountain town with lots of springs, many of which seem to sprout from the mouths of lions in a marvelous fountain. We also paused for the local dessert specialty: either yoghurt or ice cream covered with thyme honey and spinkled with nuts. Wonderful place.

We then drove to Rethymnon, with its Venetian fort at the harbor. Unfortunately for the Venetians a nearby hill was higher than the fort, so the Turks were able to shell the place and reduce it to rubble. Rethymnon had a nice maze of streets in the old town, packed with shops. My friend Ed bought olive soap and a blue bottle of Raki. Guess he'll stagger around with a nice complexion....

Lunched at a waterfront restaurant and had mousaka, which was very good even though Ed said it is a "dietary disaster." It's kind of like shepherd's pie, only much better. After a stroll through the town we had Nescafe Frappe at a cafe at the harbor, with a view of the reconstructed Venetian lighthouse. Rethymnon has Greek, Venetian and Ottomon buildings. There is even a mosque, though it is no longer in use as such.

Monday, April 9: Knossos

Went to the Palace at Knossos, which is right outside of Heraklion. Very large and elaborate, with a great deal of reconstruction. This allows one to have a much better idea of what things looked like originally, but does not seem as authentic as Phaistos and Mallia, so I was glad we saw them first.

We were in rather a rush as we were going to have to catch a plane in the afternoon. After a tour of Knossos we re-boarded the bus for a quick drive through the city of Heraklion, then sped back to the hotel for lunch and check-out.

Off to the airport for the trip to Athens, then a 3 hour wait for the flight to Mykonos. We were picked-up at the airport by the hotel bus. We and our luggage all arrived together. At the hotel Vagilis bought us all a round of drinks, we then had dinner and off to bed.