Sitia to Iraklion to Santorini

The amazing fresco of leaping over the sacred bull, from Knossos. The painting is about 4,000 years old. Click to enlarge.

This morning, we packed and left Sitia and a brief beach interlude (punctuated by one ruin tromping stop). After four days in Sitia, we drove back to Heraklion, along the mountains, with the rugged Crete coast alongside us.


We came to Heraklion for one night, mainly to catch a ferry from here to Santorini tomorrow morning. We will stay in Santorini one night, check out the calderon, and then head off to Naxos for three days.




The Phaistos disk from the Knossos Minoan Palace. No one has ever succeeded in translating it, although they did manage to translate the texts of Linear A and Linear B (or one of them...I forget. The disks were created in about 1,600 B.C.Click to enlarge.

Naturally, while in Heraklion, we found time to visit the great archaeological museum here, with all its great artifacts from the Minoan civilizations, and in particular Knossos.

Heraklion was even busier and crazier than I remembered it from 25 years ago. Aside from the museum, we went out for a very good dinner--with a great complimentary dessert of flan, a Cretan pastry, and a bottle of grappa.

More tomorrow from Santorini (aka Thira)...

jack, Heraklion Crete, July 10, 2008
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The Incredible Minoan Ruins at Knossos, Crete

4/5 of the family at Knossos. The other 20% were taking the photo. Click to enlarge.

We visited the impressive Knossos ruins, just outside Heraklion, Crete, about half an hour after landing on our turbo prop flight from Rhodes. This is my second visit here, and it’s still as impressive as I found in 1982.

The famous dolphin Fresco at Knossos. Circa about the 15th Century B.C. - click to enlarge

Although the controversial archaeologist Arthur Evans took some liberties in his reconstruction (but not his excavations), in some ways these are the most impressive ruins of all, and give you a better picture of what once existed there. Some other archeologists strongly disagree with his theories on Minoan culture and life at the palace. And, in particular, people object to his use of reinforced concrete (and other “non-native”) materials to bridge the gaps (of missing timbers, slabs, or tiles) and actually recreate entire rooms and series of rooms and chambers. They also object to his use of copies of frescoes, thrones, and friezes (that he took away and placed in places like the Heraklion Archaeological museum). On the other hand, unlike other British raiders, he left the booty right here in Greece, instead of hauling it back to the British Museum.

Jack's drawing of the famous Minotaur at Knossos - click to enlarge

Seeing even copies of the 4,000 year old frescoes in place is incredible, and puts the palace in great context, unlike the extensive ruins at, say Afrodesia or Ephesus. If you want to see the originals, you visit the Heraklion Museum…just like you don’t see Michaelangelo’s David outdoors, but a copy. It’s not that radical a concept…if you visit ruins and museums a lot, you well know that most Roman and Greek statuary is hidden away in museums, not exposed at their native site.

part of the reconctructed ruins at Knossos - click to enlarge

People do respect much of Evans’ theory and work, but a small group violently object. . .and it’s not hard to see their point either. Evans was brilliant, so sure I don’t begrudge him a few crackpot theories or taking certain liberties. In my booklet, it was all worth it.

another famous fresco at Knossos (or, rather, a copy--the originals are in the stellar museum at Heraklion). Click to enlarge.

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