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Morning dawned in Crete, and we drove through the modern, sprawling city of Heraklion on our way to the ruins of the Palace of Knossos, seat of the Minoan Empire. We arrived at the site at the same time as numerous other tour groups. We had to stagger ourselves, with each group waiting for the one in front of it to move on so that we could all crowd around the next area of significance. Manos, our guide (1) spoke slowly and quietly, and was therefore drowned out in the sea of German, English, and French being shouted around us. The sun was hot, and boredom set in quickly. Tree and I ditched the group to go wander wherever we could get away. We looked at the South House, below the symbolic bull horns (2), and peered into storage magazines with their pitholi, or storage jars (3). We got a quick glance at the frescoed throne room (4) before being ushered along by a docent to allow the line of people waiting outside to have a look (6). More frescoes adorned various walls, including one of a man and lilies (5), and a bull (7).
The site is still being worked on, and problems are being encountered with the restoration by Sir Arthur Evans and the wear on the site caused by tourists. For the latter reason, parts of the palace were closed off, including the private apartments and the grand staircase (8), which could only be peered into from above. Similarly, the Royal Road is cordoned off (9), and the Little Palace it leads to is off-limits. We were soon back on the bus, which took a detour so we could see the Venetian fortifications of the city before driving us directly to the ship. With the tugboat Minotauros at the stern (10), we were soon away from the dock, and setting out to sea. < previous | index | next > |
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