Crete turned out to be quite interesting, more so than we expected. After reading about the Minoans in “Ancient Greece,” a book by Thomas Martin, I was keen to see Crete where this earliest of European civilizations flourished. Knossos Palace, near Heraklion, Crete’s capital city, is the oldest European city.
While doing research, I discovered that Chania, the second largest city in Crete, should also be an interesting place to visit. So, I decided that we should take a ferry from Santorini to Heraklion, see Knossos, and then take a bus to Chania. After three days there, we would take a flight back to Athens. All of these turned out to be good decisions.
Heraklion is a regular Greek city with two major sites for tourists…Knossos and the Archeological Museum. Knossos is really a palace with one controversial feature.
The fellow who was responsible for excavating it, Arthur Evans, decided to restore parts of it to make them look like what he thought they did. So, there are ruins and intersperse among them are the restored structures. Little strange. However, despite these modifications (or because of them depending on your point of view) the palace is impressive. It is huge in size and incorporates many structural advances for drainage, water supply, living spaces and gathering areas. This is actually the second palace, built during 1650-1450 BC, after the first one built in around 2000 BC was destroyed by an earthquake.
What is equally impressive is the Archeological museum.
Not only does it display fine artifacts dug up in Knossos and other places around in Crete, but also the way they are organized makes this one of the finest museums I have seen. The artistic ability of Minoans, and the other cultures that followed them are in full display. Some of the well-known works like “snake goddess “are shown here. There are hundreds of vessels, jars, pots and amphora that can store and hold material. Also, on display are all types of religious symbols and ornaments. I highly recommend seeing this museum.
The buses from Heraklion to Chania run every hour on the half hour. We dragged our suitcases to the bus station and got tickets for the next one. The journey took three hours with several stops in between. We marveled at the ocean and mountain scenery. We did not expect Crete to be so mountainous. Apparently, it has to do with the subduction of the African plate under the Eurasian plate. That’s what formed Crete. The same phenomenon was also responsible for the Santorini volcano blowing its top.
The old town of Chania does not permit cars and so again we had to drag our suitcases from the bus stop to our hotel, a refurbished old building right on water. Chania has a Venetian style harbor built when the Venetians occupied Crete. The harbor and the old town surrounding it make up the primary tourist area of this beautiful town. The harbor is really quite nice,
with a lighthouse (built by Venetians and modified by the Egyptians) providing the focal point for picture takers. Shops and restaurants are everywhere but yet Chania does not feel like Mykonos. There are no cruise ships and the crowd is not as young or annoying.
The town has plenty of buildings and monuments representing its checkered past. To mention a few, there is a Byzantine wall, the famous Venetian harbor, a mosque, and a Greek orthodox church with a bell tower and a minaret. Walking around the streets of Chania is fun.
Besides the old town, the rest of the place is a regular coastal city. The adjoining towns make the urban area extend quite a few miles along the rugged coast.
One of the interesting things we did while in Chania was to take a day trip to a beach called Elafonisi. It is located on the southwest corner of Crete and by any measure; it is one of the finest beaches we have been to. The sand is white with pink color interspersed; water is crystal clear and quite shallow for a long distance. On the other side of the sand bar is a blue, shallow lagoon. So, people can enjoy water on both sides of the spit. One can continue and end up on the island of Elafonisi further south, but few people seemed to do that.
It gets better. The road to the beach goes through a very mountainous area. The White Mountains, as they are called (reminding us of “our” White Mountains in New Hampshire), are craggy and made of soft material. Totally understandable because they used to be under the sea before subduction of the plate pushed them upward. The road is windy and so narrow in places that it is scary, especially for folks who have not experienced the Himalayan mountain roads.
We stopped at a cave, The Hope of God Cave, to see stalactites. The person guiding the place told us that we could walk around the giant formation. We tried to but it was so dark and slippery that we turned back.
A visit to Crete is absolutely worth it.
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