Day 8 - Island of Crete

Day 8 – Kphth (Crete)

Crete is a Greek island of 600,000 people with 98% of them being Greek Orthodox.  It contains the ruins of the Minoan civilization which dates back to 4,000 BC.  The Minoan palace is the main site of interest at Knossos which was completely excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in the 1930’s. 

 

Today we went from the biblical events of Israel to the Greek mythology traditions in the Minoan culture.  The Knossos palace was originally 5 stories tall with 500 rooms and was the seat of the wise king Minos.  Minos by legend, is the son of Zeus and nephew of Poseidon.  He is also the father of Mintaur (half-man/half-bull).  The Minoan civilization was very developed and its trading partners were the Phoenicians, Eyptians and Syrians.  The current site is being restored to look like the original site which can be ascertained from the pictures on the walls.  Original objects from the site are housed in the Archeology Museum in the port city of Heraklion (after Hercules) which is the capital of Crete.  The pictures below are from the palace ruins at Knossos. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



After discovering the ruins at Knossos, we drove to Heraklion to walk its city streets and see Venetian ruins from when Venice built the port area in 1500’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Archeological Museum in Heraklion is under renovation, open was a special exhibit of the original frescoes from the Knossos palace and statues from the Hellenistic period. A model of the original Knossos palace is depicted below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, both Jim and I are impressed with the level of civilization that existed between 2-4,000 BC.  The Knossos palace had the primitive beginnings of today's water, sewage and air conditioning system. 

 

Tomorrow we will be at see again as we head for Napolis.  I will blog on the ship we are on - Norwegian Cruise Line Jade. 

 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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