Greece, Crete: A Trip to the Largest Greek Island VIII
Last week we hvisited Spinalonga. It was a truly impressive view that unfortunately we had to share with crowds of tourists. The place would be even better if we visited it during sunset.
On a small ship where we were squashed among other tourists we returned to small harbor town of Mavrikiano and boarded the bus. Knossos is about two about two hours away. An ideal time for a quick nap. We weretired of the heat. It was almost 35 degrees Celsius and the air-condition produced really hot air. Soon it felt like sauna.
However, our enthusiasm from finally seeing Knossos was no less. About half-an-hour before we reached the palace, the guide started a short lecture on the Minoan period in Crete.
The name was coined by Sir Arthur Evans. An Englishman the fame of which is closely related to Knossos. It was him who at the beginning of the 20th century initiated archeological excavations that revealed the culture. With Heinrich Schliemann, the man who discovered Troya, they became pioneers in research on Aegean culture.
The palace is monumental. The construction dates to the second millennium BC and a couple of centuries later, about 18 thousand people. Obviously the settlement is long gone. The only thing you see is greenery surrounding Knossos.
The fact that there were more than 1300 rooms of various sizes and shapes. The rooms are interconnected with corridors. The complex structure of the palace inspired the legend of Minotauros .
The palace covers an area of 24 thousand m². Some of its parts had 5 floors. On its compounds there are also large storage rooms where used to be large storage jars with oil, grains, dried fish, beans, or olives. Also, on the palace compounds was a theatre.
We slowly explored the palace including frescoes that inspired many postcards available to purchase in souvenir shops. The whole tour took us about one and half hour. It was the most interesting sight in Crete. It was even supreme to Venetian fortresses on Spinalonga and Rhetymno.
Text: Maxim Kucer
Photo:Wikipedia.org, Agostino64 , Lapplaender , Deror avi, Hochgeladen von Apeto, Hochgeladen von Apeto (2)
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