Knossos (The buildings).

Oh dear, it's raining and has been all day and night. I guess I'm driving to the Hall tonight for disco aerobics. I did go out to get some milk when the rain had eased and was even tempted for a short walk on the beach before the returning rain sent me quickly to the shop and home.

Today was our last Welsh class of the academic year though of course we will be meeting our friends for our library sessions. And I shall continue with my daily Duo Lingo and perhaps attempt to watch the Welsh tv channel.

Now for a bit more sun.

Long before our neighbour told me about their Cretan holidays I had wanted to visit the Palace of Knossos.

It was a good choice to wait until the spring as it wasn't as hot as it had been in September though I was grateful for my loose silk shirt. We were also fortunate in that entry was free (and to the museum) on May 18th, International Museums Day which was a saving of E80.

I expect like most people I had thought that the term 'labyrinth' referred to underground cellars and tunnels in which possibly the minotaur had lived. But the term simply referred to the vast maze of rooms and corridors of the palace in which no doubt it was quite easy to get lost.

This model in the museum shows the size of the palace with some parts, three or even four stories high. It may have been four thousand years ago but this was a very sophisticated civilisation.

To avoid the crowds of people walking round with guides we headed around the outside of the site first before making our way to the centre with its grand plazas and ceremonial rooms. Note the peacock, of which there were a number, perched in the tree above the walkway.

The Hall of the Axes behind which were the queen's chambers.

And of course the famous reconstructed bull fighting fresco.

Open staircases brought light and air into the lower floors.

The ceremonial throne room with its stone throne. A room where religious rites may have been performed.

I took too many photos to put them on one post so will save the frescos and ceramics for tomorrow.

Olous.

It's been bright and breezy today. A little on the cool side but not bad for a British summer's day.

I spent the morning working in the back garden which included some rough and ready cementing. I also re-arranged the acers which are growing in large tubs. The trees have grown so large they were blocking the way to the oil tank and to the new compost bin. One has had to go down to the other end of the garden where unfortunately it won't be as sheltered but I didn't have much choice.

I had to stop gardening in the afternoon so that I would be fit enough for choir tonight.

Now back to much warmer Crete.

On one of our earlier trips to the island we stopped to look at the ruins of the drowned city of Olous. You can read about its history here. I haven't found a specific event that caused it to be submerged just vague references to earthquakes which are relatively common in that part of the world.

The submerged ruins reach as far as the island itself and back to the town of Elounda.

A canal ran through the city and is still used by small boats today.

We found ourselves a shady spot under a tree from where Peter watched me venturing out on a low wall.

Straight walls plus plenty of fish and sea anemones could be seen in the clear water which was only a couple of feet deep. 

More foundations could be seen on the land behind us. I will admit to having a poke around in the stones and many pottery fragments and finding a bit with a section of rim and the start of a handle. Who knows how old it is. Everywhere we went even the roads and car parking areas were were littered with bits of terracotta, many from roof tiles but also pottery so some might have come home with me. 

Looking at this photo from the web I see that there are even more ruins to see along the causeway. I think that when we were driving along the causeway we were too busy watching out for pedestrians and hoping we wouldn't meet a car coming in the opposite direction. Next year maybe.

Lato.

It's been sunny and windy again today. it would have been a good day to do some washing but instead I went to the zoo. 

Today I planted some lavender and curry plants that I had grown from cuttings, in the gravel garden. Then I went on to weed the woodchip in the children's play area before turning my attention to nearer the entrance. The gravel by the ferrets desperately needs weeding but I only did what I call an emergency weeding removing anything that looked as if it was close to going to seed. Instead I weeded some of the smaller strips by the enclosures and behind the barriers as I think it looks bad if they are overgrown. The gravel will have to wait until next time.

Down in our front garden I love watching the bees. Currently their favourite flowers are the stachys and the Ruta followed by the hardy geraniums and the linaria. Ruta gets away with being the only yellow flowered plant in my carefully designed shingle garden due to it being my namesake and it does have good blue foliage. The only other yellow flowers in this garden are the daffs, Welsh poppies and hypericum all of which were here originally.

 

Imagine my surprise when I stood in the shade of a tree in Lato, the site of a Dorian (pre Minoan and earlier) city close to the present day village of Kritsa, and saw a clump of Ruta. In fact it grew everywhere throughout the ruins but I didn't see it growing anywhere else.

(Apologies for showing this view again) I took this photo when we did our 'not the gorge' walk. It shows the road leading to the entrance to the site but not the excavated ruins which sit in a dip of the hill. From this position the city controlled access to the fertile eastern plateau.

The map below shows that the territory of Lato reached to just beyond Plaka on the coast.

The city had strong walls all around. Here Peter is going through the north-western gate into a small easily defended space.

From there the main street consisted of steps leading up the hill. On the left were dwelling houses,

while on the other side were workshops including a pottery.

We climbed the nearly two and a half thousand year old steps and from the hillside beyond,

we could see more public buildings built into the rocks on the other arm of the city.

These included a small temple which still had the stone altar in the inner room.

From there we could see right down to the coast and the modern city of Agios Nikolaos. Unlike Lytos which had be razed to the ground by their rivals from Knossos Lato simply declined in favour of a more useful port close to the modern city. 

It was a really lovely site to visit with sufficient information boards (and a guide app from a QR thingy). It wasn't crowded at all either. I think there were three or four cars in the car park by the time we left.

Spinalonga.

After a wet night we've had a pleasantly sunny day.

In the morning we met up with our friends in Mach library and there was much telling of holiday tales and family dramas before we settled down to working on our Welsh.

Our friends brought us up to speed with the lessons we'd missed but had looked at on holiday and we all went through the set homework. No news yet if we will be having a lesson this week or not.

Afterwards we went to lunch at the Café Glyndwr to celebrate the end of yet another year. I can't believe we have been learning this complex language for five years already (and I still can't follow S4C, the Welsh tv channel).

Peter spent the afternoon playing pool while I pottered around in the garden and then I went to the pub for a Rowing Club carnival meeting. Our theme is now a mash-up of Bay Watch, Cardigan bay and celebrating 25 years of the UK lifeguards.

And now back to sunny Crete -

We visited Spinalonga last year but felt it warranted a return visit. We were out in good time to catch the first boat from Plaka at 10.00,

thus avoiding the crowds that soon followed. (I try my best not to have random people in my photos so it might look like that Crete was more or less deserted when we were there which wasn't quite the case especially on Spinalonga and at Knossos.)

We pushed on quickly through the Market Street leaving behind large groups (a lot of Russians and French that time) with their tour guides.

Stopping on the way to peer through gateways into the ruined buildings.

And then made our way around the far side of the island.

When the island was a military site (to defend Mirabella Bay) it was completely encircled by walls and battlements.

This year we made it to the top of the island which gave us great views to Kolokytha Island (above) and Plaka (below). 

Looking down we could see the restored houses in Market Street and then all the way up the ruins and foundations of the many other buildings that had once covered the hillside.

There were lots of little paths between the buildings and even the main route was rough going. A challenge for Peter's ankles and knees but he did it.

Two visits is probably enough so I don't think we'll go across the water again. No doubt we'll continue with our daily tradition of going going down to the sea front and watching the floodlights turning on to light up Spinalonga's walls and main structures.