May 21, 2024 Crete, Knossos

Yesterday we had a very nice relaxing day. We certainly needed it after going flat our for the last 5 days. No one is up for much at all. I didn’t even take one photo yesterday.

Crete was not originally a port for us. Originally we were scheduled to be in Santorini. However, there were 5 ships scheduled to be in in Santorini today. That was a potential 20,000 passengers that would be spewed out onto the very small island of Santorini. A bit disappointing not to be able to see this beautiful island with my family, however, being here with that many passengers among the other tourists that are already there, would not be fun for anyone!!

Our excursion today is the Bronze Age archaeological site of Knossos. They seem to pronounce the “K” in it’s name. It was the major center of the Minoan civilization. What we didn’t realize at the time we booked this, was it is a 2.5 hour bus ride to the site and quite obviously 2.5 hours to return.

Knossos has the remains of a enormous Minoan palace. The earliest parts of the palace were built around 1900 BC, Th Minoan civilization itself flourished from around 2700 BC to 1450 BC. That is a really, really long time ago. The mythological tales of the Minotaur, Daedalus, and Icarus are closely associated with Knossos Palace.

The image below has been named “Horns of Consecration” by Arthur Evans. They are a religious or ceremonial symbol found extensively in Minoan contexts, probably based on the horns of bulls. There are also many images of bulls painted on the walls. In Cretan culture, the bull is everywhere. It seems that the physical power of the bull and viewed it as a creature of the cosmos.

This is the Throne Room that was unearthed in 1900 by British archaeologist Arthur Evans. He initially felt that this was built for ceremonial purposes. There are other opinions on the purpose of this room. Some feel that it was a sanctuary of a female divinity. Who really knows?? Obviously no blueprints have been discovered!!🤪🤣

We can see that this palace is decorated with a red pigment. It is extremely well preserved considering the advanced age of the site. It is thought that the preservation of the colour was dependent on a few factors. A Mediterranean environment, use of high quality red ochre pigments and protection from the elements. A lot of the columns being indoors or in sheltered areas.

It is a very hot day and this site has very little shade. Thankfully, some of this tour was also indoors.

We re-boarded the bus that took us to a large restaurant where our busload and a few others were served lunch. Shortly after our lunch we were back on the bus for the long ride back to the Sun Princess. I was able to take a few photos through the windows. Thankfully I was on the scenic side of the bus.