From Knossos to Nausea

Part of the reconstruction at Knossos
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Jumping in the bright yellow Hyundai Atos we spun down the National Highway eastward.  Our goals this first day were small.  Knossos just 6 km out of Heraklion and then staying overnight in Hersonisou to hopefully meet up with Elisabeth's buddies from the time share (oops not supposed to call it that ) place she used to work at.

The Minoans built what appears to be a pretty peaceful, sensuous, artistic civilization based on trading through the mediteranean around 1900BCE until the volcano on Thera or what is left of the island which is now called Santorini blew so much dirt in the air and caused such earthquakes as to trash life in the region.

The frescoe room at Knossos
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Most of what is assumed about the Minoans is from a British archeologist named Evans.  He dug up Knossos and put the puzzle pieces together on buildings, uses, rituals etc...  Of course like all such work it is a matter of guessing.  What you see of the ruin site is mostly reconstructions on Evans finds.  What you see that is unmistakably from the Minoans are richly colored frescoes and a 'throne'.  It is not an awestriking place.  You really need to put it in perspective of the time and contemporary civilizations or lack of to appreciate the advanced way of life that had developed there 4000 years ago.

some more of Knossos
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Right outside the ruin site we stopped to admire a handsome Greek working at his mom's place and ended up admiring some really good food.  Mom made an excellent Mousaka and potato pancake dish that I cannot spell but has a lot of k's in it.

With happy bellies we departed for Hersonisou which turned out to be a tourist beach town.  Busy with Germans, Italians, French, English and other EU types.  The place had a buzzing main drag where I found excellent skype connections and we located a pleasant hotel with a pool to lounge in for the late afternoon.

the little strip of beach at Hersonisou
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The next day turned into a marathon of driving.  I got too optimistic about distances and made the day much too much of a turning and twisting experience.

We traveled along the main highway on the north coast then jogged up to Elounda which was a lovely place to stop for a swim.  The town hosts some swanky hotels but did not feel exclusive.  It has great vistas of yachts at port and has a Venetian fortress on a tiny islet as a special feature.  Crete was actually ruled by the Venetians for a couple hundred years before it passed into Ottoman Turk hands and was briefly independent before joining the Greek Union.  Consequently the Cretans inherited a lot of fortifications from the Venetians, and a strong sense of independence and fighting spirit from being under Foreign rule.

A church we stopped at on Sunday and heard the chanting priests
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Onward I drove to the very tip of Eastern Crete.  Stopping at the monastery of Toplou which makes icons with ornate silver frames.  Icons are a big thing in Eastern Orthodoxy.  They  the images of saints, Christ, Mary and events of the Bible.  There is a very distinct artistic style which emphasizes the spirtual over the physical world.  Thus you get a lot of gaunt, stern looking guys out of proportion to their environment.  From there it was onto Vai.  Vai is famous for its date palms said to have been planted by Egyptian soldiers back in BCE times.  It also has a beautiful beach where you can climb the rocks and take in the view.

Looking out to sea from the roadway
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Already after 5:30 when we left Vai, We planned one route but ended up on another.  The roads by the way are winding and slow through old villages where tavernas tempt one to stop for a Greek coffee (just like a Turkish one) or a Kleftiko ( roast lamb).  As you can imagine with me driving and Elisabeth who gets carsick looking at a map navigating we had a few directional challenges.

We just kept going and going until both of us were nauseous from making so many turns in the road going up the hills and down.  Eventually we made it into Makrio   where I took my tired frustrations out on a innkeeper who refused to give me a straight answer when I asked him the price.  We stopped at a coffee shop where two kind Dutchfolk led us to a lovely hotel which in turn kindly rented us a room for the night at a good price.