Tales Of Time: Holiday 2017 - Greece

One of the pleasures of cruising is the unlimited amount of gourmet food and drinks that is available and after an enormous breakfast we set off for Crete. All these island tours from a large ship meant first travelling in by a smaller boat. It is interesting to watch them all travelling from the mainland then jockeying at the bottom waiting their turn to take the tourist back to the land. Each group on board is given a number and you are called to descend to the bottom deck and wait to hop on.

One of Many little boats

Shaky descent with the water lapping and trying not to fall into it as you take a giant step onto the boat.

This time we were taken to the port of Heraklion.

This was a descent size boat

20 minutes out of town we were then taken to Knossos. A Minoen settlement 3 1/2 thousand years old and discovered by Arthur Evens in 1900 and sunk his entire fortune into it, digging the Palace and a substantial area around up. There is still acres more to go.

Map of what it may have looked like.

The beginning walk

What I found interesting is Arthur Evans had constructed, part of the Palace, of what they found and put it back together, to give the tourist the feel of being there. This was a very advanced palace with plumbing and waterways and even the Queens bath. You have to remember this was 2000 to 1600 BC while England in the 1800's was throwing its waste into the street.

Queen's Bath

The Minoan religion was around the Bull and many figures of bulls and Minotaur were found. The snake goddess statues were also found and is in the museum. They also had many frescoes and these are dotted all around, most likely copies but it showed a very artistic race.

The Prince

The Throne Room, throne in rock on RHS,. Room held 16 people

This is lovely

One of many reconstructed buildings.

Liked this one too

More rooms

Red columns everywhere.

All part of the Kings Palace

Very Large Pots were found in part of the covered storage areas

Lots of walking

This of course was another very large city, advanced, rich, full of art, sculptures, and so large we only saw part of it. The palace in places was 3 stories high. Santorini which is now 5 islands after the massive volcano, was part of the Minoan Society. Thus this era ended when that happened.
However, there are a number of clues to be found in Plato's story that make many people believe that the destructive Minoan eruption on Santorini is the most likely candidate for being the historic fact behind the story, that this was the mystery "Atlantis" I can quite believe that.

The Exit

We then were taken on board the buses and left at the township with a walking tour and to look at different shops.

The fountain with the lions is one of the most important monuments the Venetians bestowed on Heraklion. When it was built, it offered a solution to the problem of supplying Heraklion with water, providing 1,000 barrels of water a day.


In the main square

Best Icecream

Shopping

Church in the town

Saying Goodbye to another Fabulous Island.

The restaurant that night had changed all its sculptures.

So off to Santorini we went. I knew we had to get up to the top of the island but not how high the chair lift was, so both times they made me sit back of the view. I am not good with heights that are strung over nothing.

What the brave see

Once on the top at Fira we found a town constructed of very narrow alley ways with an arrow point the way. Lots and lots of shops and restaurants and lots of tourists. We arrived late afternoon.

Of all the Islands Santorini had the most White Clothing Stores.

I had done a bit of researching and we decided not to do the 79Euro trip to the top of the island Oia by bus, but to walk along the narrow track to the highest point to see the view. Talking to a couple who did the bus trip they were disappointed, so we chose right. If we had wanted to go to Oia the local bus was 1.80E . We eventually walked through the narrow walkway and went off to the right and from there started to see the island from what I think of as the back, where the boats anchor as the front on the Caldera.