M-Photo | Field Notes

The big archaeologic site on Crete is Knosos.  According to Greek mythology, the palace was designed by famed architect Dedalos with such complexity that no one could ever find its exit once inside. King Minos who commissioned the palace kept the architect prisoner to ensure that he would not reveal the palace plan to anyone. Dedalos, a great inventor, built two sets of wings so he and his son Ikaros could fly off the island, and so they did. On their way out, Dedalos warned his son not to fly too close to the sun because the wax that held the wings together would melt. The son flew too high and fell to his death in the Aegean.  Camera: Fuji XT20 The Minoans were a peaceful peopled put all their energy into innovations.  They has sewer systems and brought in clean drinking water that they piped to the site from the river and underground springs.  The river no longer exists today but Crete has an underground aquifer and is largely self sufficient...

We took a short boat ride to the island of Spinalonga that contains the remains of a leper colony.  The water was a brilliant turquoise!  Totally awesome and hot. It was originally a fortress, then taken over by the Ottomans and finally the leper colony.  It was set up like a town and the infected people who lived here were essentially imprisoned  but were cared for. One of the priests married couples and babies were born so they had some semblance of a normal life.  The colony was closed in the 1950’s.  Best photo op!  Camera: Fuji XT20

We visited Rethymno, similar to Chania but smaller. Our local guide, Lena (or was it Elena, Lani or Leni) lived in this village and we had our home hosted lunch with her family.  Her husband prepared a feast!  He was cooking all day and is famous for his french fries with olive oil. The Greeks eat small plates family style, so there are always a lot of entrees and they just keep bringing them and we just kept eating.  A little Raki and you are ready for the next meal! Heraklion is the capital and had a nice pedestrian street with a shopping district. We walked down to the water on the path climbed to the top of Fort Koules for the view of the Aegean Sea and the Marina.  Erich and I went for dinner on our own at Lion’s Square, he had pizza and I had a huge bowl of tomatoes, followed by Raki. We went to DaVinci’s for gelato and enjoyed our dessert on some marble steps watching the people go by just like everyone else.   ...

Early flight to Chania which is pronounced “Han-Yah”, not even close to the English spelling.  Illias, a guide in training, accompanied us on this part of the trip.  Really nice guy, and easy going bass guitarist. Chania is a port city with Venetian architecture and narrow streets and plenty of outdoor dining on the waterfront. The food in Crete was the best, lots of olive oil and fresh tomatoes.  After our first lunch, Erich paid and then the waiter brought over a little bottle and two shot glasses and some ice cream. This is a tradition, the Cretans serve Raki, a grape liquor, served after a meal to aide in digestion. It is part of the meal…and yes it helps with digestion.  We ate so much and were so full that a couple shots of Raki really worked.  Another night we ate a local restaurant listening to some live traditional music, drinking Raki and had the best Moussaka EVER!