Crete

Yesterday, my ferry arrived around 6 AM at Heraklio. I immediately headed to the bus station; I have no patience and wanted to see Knossos right away. After about a 20 minute ride, I found myself standing in front of the palace complex of Knossos, where legend says that the Minotaur ate young Athenians each year, if you believe the myth. Since I arrived there when it was opening, I would have probably had to wait 30 minutes or so for enough people to accumulate for a guided tour in English. Thus, due to my impatience, I bought a book and went off on my own, already having a high level of knowledge about what I would encounter. All the stories I've heard about the place are true; walking around the complex seemed as of I were in a labyrinth. After about an half and a half of exploring, I called it quits and took the bus back to Heraklio to visit the Heraklio Archaeological Museum, which houses ancient artifacts from all over Crete. The museum is currently being renovated, so they had to put all the main items in a temporary exhibit. Among my favorites are the Bull-leaping fresco from Knossos, the Phaistos Disc (inscriptions of Cretan hieroglyphics) and the statue of Persephone, Hades and Cerberus from Gortyn. Afterwards, I took another bus but this time I headed south about 1.5 hours to Phaistos, another impressive Minoan archaeological site. Since I knew very little about this site beforehand, I opted for the guided tour, which was amazing. It was led by a Greek man who had a British accent, which was quite awesome to hear! By the end of the tour, it was 3 PM, the time when Cretan archaeological sites close. Thus, I couldn't make it to my third and final stop, Gortyn. So I took the bus southbound and stayed at Matala beach for the night. Coincidentally, there was some sort of hippie festival going on and the beach was crazy. To end the evening on the beach, I drank some Raki, a very sweet Cretan liquor, as well as Cretan wine. Both were exquisite. Today, I woke up early to catch a bus back to Heraklio. On the way, I hopped off at Gortyn to see the ancient Greco-Roman city which held prominence over the island during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Gortyn is known for it's legal code, which is the first of it's kind found in the Western world. The Code of Hammurabi, which dates much, much earlier, obviously is Eastern. I had heard about this inscription, but it blew me away when I saw it. I had no idea it was simply written on a large wall behind the theatre! Afterwards, I took the bus back to Heraklio, where I spent the afternoon exploring the Venetian Castle and hanging out at the harbor. Then, since Crete is known for their fabulous seafood, I ate some swordfish (Ξιφιας in Greek) for dinner. It was tremendous. Anyway, my ferry soon will be leaving for Athens. Since we go to Corinth in the morning, which is where I selected to give my on-site report, I will be spending some time finalizing that tonight on the way back.