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Crete, Island of Miracles and Romance (Above, official Athenian guards). By
Arnie Greenberg Imagine the largest Greek Island that separates the Aegean from the Libyan Sea and marks the boundary between Europe and Africa. Imagine majestic mountains, deep gorges and serene plateau. Imagine a harsh, barren setting with old farm houses, olive trees, orange groves, shores marked by forbidding rocks, monasteries perched on mountain ridges, cypress forests sitting in a hot sun. Imagine yourself on Crete, the island of miracles and romance. While you can fly there from Athens or take a hydrofoil from Marmaris, Turkey, I first came by cruise ship as one of the stops on a hop around the Aegean Islands. I was taken there in 20 minutes by bus from the bustling port of Heraklion (Iraklio). It was trip I will never forget. Here, on Greece's southernmost and largest island, I visited the Minoan palace in a city dating back to the Minoan civilization of the Neolithic period. Built on a hilltop, it afforded the inhabitants easy access to the sea and interior. According to tradition, it was the seat of the wise king Minos. The palace teems with legends, such as the myth of the Labyrinth, the existence of the Minotaur, a man-like creature with the head of a bull. Add to that the story of Daidalus and Ikaris -- and you have a site of fantasy and reality studied, visited and enjoyed by millions. The excavation of the site was started in 1878, and then restarted by the Englishman Sir Arthur Evans, who uncovered the entire site. It is almost eerie to walk on a site dating back to 7,000 BC. It was continually inhabited from 3,000 to 1,900 BC. A disastrous earthquake at Santorini destroyed the first palace, probably about 1,700 BC. The larger second palace, built on the original site, was partially ruined about 1,450 BC, destroying a mighty civilization at its height. Soon afterwards, the Mycenaeans from mainland Greece occupied Knossos until Roman times. The Minoan civilization was a place where traders became rich trading along the coast of Asia Minor and the islands including Santorini (Thira). The excavation covers an area of 20,000 square meters and impresses the visitor with its variety of buildings, roads, materials and colors. Wall paintings and marble adorn the rooms and passageways. Beams and reinforced masonry plus complex drainage and water systems bring awe to the visitor. The palace itself is set around a large central court, used for public meetings. A second west court was a ceremonial area and official approach to the palace. The west wing served as official administrative and religious rooms that included a shrine and repository for crypts. In the south wing we can see the corridor of the procession with the fresco of the Prince of the Lillies. From the north entrance a road leads to the harbor of Knossos and a fresco of the Bull Hunt. There is a Royal Road leading from the Small Palace to the open-air theatre. There are also settlement areas, cemeteries, a royal villa, the Temple Tomb, Villa of Diana with wonderful floor mosaics dating back to the 2nd century AD. Over the years the finds included high quality art, pottery, vessels, figurines, tablets and original wall paintings. In order to enjoy them all one must take the time to visit the Heraklion Museum in Heraklion before reboarding your ship. The Minoan civilization controlled the entire area for a long time. This much we know. But volcanoes in the region and invasions from Greece and Rome brought an end to a civilization that had gone on for centuries. Today there remains only the artifacts and legends. In modern times, the scholars continue their research and the archeologists continue their digs. More recently, the artist Pablo Picasso used the minataur in many of his drawings. He saw himself as a man with the head of a bull. He once said that if you put a pencil to paper the day he was born and continued to move it everywhere he traveled, at the end of his life you would have drawn a minataur. Just another myth, you say, but once you go to Knossos you will have a better understanding of the myths and the power of the man and bull. Here
on the island of El Greco, and Kazantzakis we remember the past and we visit the
modern homeland of the creator of Zorba the Greek. "Would you like a pure wool carpet"? "No, thank you," I smile. He is not dismayed. "Is that your final answer"? Crete is modern, vibrant, teeming with life, full-bodied, dizzying and memorable. It awaits you under a star-studded sky. For more information, consult the Greek National Tourism Organization at www.gnto.gr. (Click below for more travel).
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