Crete -The Ancient Bit

Friday 26th May

                        Today we set off on our only organised tour taking in the capitol of Heraklion and then heading out a few miles to see the ruins of the Knossos.
                          When we arrived into Heraklion we were shown around the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion with many artefacts to show that Crete was one of the cradles of civilisation.

Heraklion museum of Archaeology

                  There are exhibits from the Neolithic period through to the Bronze age and ending up finally in the Iron age.Our guide for the tour was the double of Rosa Klebb straight out of From Russia with Love but quite as evil although she was a teacher before she became a guide so maybe she was.

The tour guide

                       

Rosa Klebb

The tour was enlightening apart from the ubiquitous school party who were about as interested as a brick wall.

Boy's toys

Various artefacts

Wooden reproduction of the Knossos

Cretan Bronze age axes

Ladt Watson's Christmas list

Now that's what I call a coffin'

Bones of a horse-of course.

More artefacts

I wasn't allowed to take photos in this room.

More boy's toys.

                         After the tour we had a couple of hours for a sightseeing cum lunch break so we headed through the town towards another Venitian harbour which this time didn't appeal to Lady Watson as it was a bit to commercialised. Lunch was sourced up (Greek Pizza) washed down by a couple of local brews before we headed out onto the harbour to take some photos of the Venitian harbour fort.

Honest I was taking a photo of the market place.

The view from the pizzarea

Church of Ayios Titos(St Titus)

Heraklion harbour

The harbour fort

Can't get enough boats

                                      The afternoon's tour started with us jumping back onto our bus and heading just out of town to see the ruins of the Knossos.

                                            The Knossos was the home of King Minos in about 1600 BC.King Minos was believed to be a companion of Zeus and said to be the chief overlord over the Aegean sea due to his mighty navy.Also beneath the Knossos was reputed to be the Labyrinth inhabited by the Minotaur who was slain by Theseus with a little help from Ariadne.

                                             The love affair between the two didn't last and he left her on the island of Naxos.Not a very nice man but I'm sure there were pros and cons with this decision.

This was the slipway that went all the way to Heraklion

                                              The ruins were excavated by English archaeologist Arthur Evans and they gave a great insight into Bronze age times in the Mediterranean area.These ruins are of course the number one tourist spot on Crete and one of the main reasons we came in the afternoon is that it is a lot quieter than in the mornings as this is when most of the tourists come to visit.

Yes-A Greek urn

Various photos of the Knossos

                       We enjoyed a nice tour of the site once more headed by Rosa Klebb.The afternoon was interspersed with thunder to which Rosa explained that Zeus was angry.Obviously he has met Lady Watson before.
                              After we left the Knossos we passed by Arthur Evan's house where he stayed for the duration of his excavations.We also passed by the house of General Kriepp from where he was kidnapped and taken south over the mountains to be whisked away by a British submarine during WW2.More details about this kidnap can be found in both the film and book of "Ill met by Moonlight".

The best bit where nobody knows morse code except the German

                           An enjoyable but tiring day giving us a chance to see some real ancient history
                                  See you when I see you