Iraklion (Crete), Greece

            Wednesday, 12 Apr 2017 – Today we left the pier at 8:15 AM for our 3-hour excursion to “Knossos & the Minotaur.”  The weather threatened to be very cool (59 degrees at 7:30 AM) with dark sky.  Earlier it had been raining, and puddles were scattered about.  The short bus ride passed through the city, with a view of low mountains further away.  Our tour guide, Athena, told us that the highest mountain in Crete is about 7,000 feet high and receives snow every year.

            Before 5,000 years ago, in the Stone Age, Crete witnessed settlement, when the first people are believed to have come from Africa or the Middle East.   

Development of one of the earliest recorded civilizations on earth, the Minoans, took place here.  Knossos was the court of the legendary King Minos, whose wife Pasiphae supposedly gave birth to the Minotaur, half-bull, half-man.  Excavation of Knossos Palace started in the early 1900’s and lasted 35 years.  Although the Minoans had four palaces, only this one has been excavated.

            Our walk through the ruins of Knossos seemed very long because our guide stopped our group many times to tell us about the part that we were then viewing.  Thank goodness for Sally, Jesse was carrying the backpack/stool so that she could sit during these periods that might last 10 minutes or so.  Because other groups were nearby, we couldn’t hear our guide much of the time.  Sometimes birds were also making loud, distracting sounds.  (We later caught view of one of those birds – a beautiful peacock – strutting around the area.)

Knossos

            Without long stops, it is supposed to take about 1.5 hours to walk around the site.  Entering the Great Palace through the West Court, one can easily understand why the legend of the labyrinth grew up here.  Mostly foundations are viewed, but some walls partially exist; however pillars and some artwork (restored) are evident.  Some of the parts that we viewed were the Royal Quarters, the Throne Room, and the Queen’s Quarters whose wall above the entrance door is decorated with a copy of the famous dolphin frescos.

            Either being tired of standing or wanting to take photos where fewer people might be present, a few people began to break away from the group.  Finally we went our own way, too, walking along more quickly through the ruins to the bus.  We returned to the pier by noon.

Aqua Dining Room

            At dinner tonight, we had arranged in advance to sit with our Hong Kong friends in the Aqua Dining Room.  We had first met them at breakfast in the Singapore hotel before we and they started this cruise on 9 March.