PapaMarshall

Day 3 – 1/14/20 – Around and about Heraklion

Today started with breakfast in the top floor dining room at the hotel. Not a bad view and a nice balcony.

Cheryl and Dr. Smith discussing timelines
Nice view of the Med beyond the Venetian era wall

Then it was back to bed for Cheryl (She only got 3 hours of sleep last night.) and studying for Randy. The next event was the 1:00 tour of Heraklion. We boarded the bus that took us a few blocks into the old town and dropped us off. Then we walked.

Head wrangler Debby Smith (Dr. Smith’s wife) checking attendance on the bus
We executed an excellent mill formation while got our headsets and waited for several of the group to change money. While we were there our local expert (Michaela) gave a short lecture on the history of the city, the island of Crete, and the origin of the name “Europe”
We passed by the church of St. Titus (who brought Christianity to the island)
And at the suggestion of Dr. Rogers (our religion prof) we went inside. Here is a view of the screen and chandelier in the background while in the foreground Michaela is talking about the “women’s gallery” upstairs in this Greek Orthodox church.

We wondered a bit, found several interesting sites including the Venetian era city hall, the fountain at the end of the aqueduct that was constructed to bring water from the mountains to the growing town, and constitution square. Eventually we wound up at the Crete Archaeological Museum.

Venetian era City Hall (note the logia in front). BTW the island was controlled by Venice from 1205 to 1669. Much of the growth of Heraklion happened during this period.

The archaeological museum contains many artifacts from early Cretan history, most significantly from the Minoan civilization.

Model of the Minoan capital at Knossos. We’ll be there tomorrow (the town, not the model)
Urn decorated with an octopus
Urn with Dolphin (Dolphins are significant in Cretan mythical history)
Goddess on a swing ~1500 BC. (Note the birds on top of the pillars). This image of a descending Goddess is seen in other Minoan art of the period.
Us in front of the famous “bull dancing” frescoe taken from the palace in Knossos.
Bulls figure prominently in Minoan history and religion. This gold-horned bull’s head (1600-1450 BC) was used for pouring out libations to the god. There’s a hole in the top and an opening where his mouth would be.
Four men dancing. ~1500 BC. The styalized “bull’s horns” suggest this piece had a religious purpose.
Boar-tusk helmet. These were mentioned in the Iliad but archaeologists thought they were just a myth until H. Schliemann actually found one while excavating in Troy.
Goddess figures from late Minoan period.
While others have birds on their headdresses this one seems to have poppies. Hmmmm…

We also got to view several frescoes retrieved from the castle in Knossos. These are heavily restored, but largely considered to be accurate.

Following the museum it was back to the hotel and a quick refreshment stop before we (the 8 adults) walked back in to the old town to a restaurant the hotel recommended. I don’t intend to post pictures of every meal, but I don’t hold much hope that any meal will be as amazing as this one. After the yoghurt/honey/walnut dipping sauce for their fresh homemade bread and an appetizer of grape-leaf wrapped rice the main courses were spectacular.

Mine was pork marinated in a honey sauce and smoked. Cheryl had chicken with honey mustard sauce. It was so good we had to stop by a chocolate shop for dark chocolate on our way back to the hotel.
Our hotel is just outside the Venetian era wall. To get to it you pass thru this gate. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow is Knossos. We don’t get to laze around in the morning, so I’m going to sign off so I can get all my electronics charged.

Later,

R

4 Comments

    1. You’re right. Change the sentence to read “…we (the 8 members of the geezerly crowd)…”

  3. I am so happy for Cheryl to find food that she really likes. That food looks amazing! Enjoy eating your way through Greece. Your museum photos are wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing.

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