Day 53 – 17th June. Palace of Knossos, Heraklion.
We woke to a hot day and another great blue sky. We decided to go to the ruins at Knossos this morning as Danni had done a school project on them and thought that seeing it in person would be educational at the least !
Got there in half an hour with no problems and into the grounds. Its only €6 per adult and kids are free, so it’s very affordable. These ruins are a great example of the age of Crete. It appears to have been first inhabited during the neoglithic period- from 6000BC and evidence of the Minoan culture has been found here - Homer also mentioned the civilizations here in his books.
The ruins we saw were from the 2nd palace period (1700-1350BC) as the first palace and its city were destroyed perhaps by earthquakes they think. There were once 1500 rooms and the palace covers 22,000 sq. metres.
We just wandered from room to room and looked at the renovations and what is left on the grounds. You could even see evidence of the water drainage system they used along the sides of the roads.
All the frescoes we saw were replicas as the originals have been taken to the museum in Heraklion, but they all told of myths and legends such as the Minotaur and the Labyrinth.
There has been criticism of the way the renovations have been done in the past, mainly using concrete to replace fallen ruins rather than re-using what is there and you could see justification for this after all the authentic ruins we have visited in Europe. However, they are still fantastic ruins, spread over a large area and are laying mostly as they fell still.
It was super hot in there, you just sweat bucket loads and one of the staff there said it has been so hot the last few days as the wind has come up and it brings the winds from the Sahara desert – thought it was rather toasty!
We drove back to the apartments and spent the afternoon cooling off round the pool and we will go down to the village for dinner this evening.
Will feel like the last supper as I don’t want to leave Crete –has certainly been the favourite so far!
3 comments:
Wow guys - what a journey!! Feel like we have been with you all along the way with your amazing commentary! Know it will be sad to leave but at least it gives you a purpose to come home save some more and head back again!!
From a selfish perspective - I've really missed you and can't wait to see you!!
Safe travels home. Take care
Du xoxo
PS Big sloppy kisses from Kate!
Ps Meant to say that we particularly like Graeme's full body condom from the Aisle of Capri!! Green is definately your colour mate!
Hey Du
glad you have "been along with us" Now you dont need to travel for real!! See we are saving you money!! I have missed you too and cos not many people understand 'our humour Muriel' !!!
Looking forward to getting back to see you all.
Gray says, Do you want him to bring you back a lovely green showercoat for the farm??!@#!
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