Aghios Nikolaos, Crete

One of my few fond memories of high school would have to be the study of Greek Mythology in Grade 11. I know, call me crazy, but for the non reader that I was at that point, this really captivated me. As a result, I have retained some memory of the Greek stories. Today, mythology was a huge part of the story and I could follow it.

After yesterday's exploits on board, we were impressed when we docked in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece on time. Today's excursion took us to the ancient city of Knossos and the Disney-like recreation of a Cretan hilltop town, Arolithos. Our guide was Melina, who was an excellent animator.

Knossos was a good hour from the ship, fortunately on good highways. This site was supposed to be the palace of the Minoan King(s). This was where the mythology came in handy, because today's story was more myth than reality. I think they like the myths better than reality, even though today, they pretty much know the true stories related to the myths. They're just not as interesting.

The pictures above illustrates the difference between what we saw and what is supposed to have existed in 1700BC. There were several original sections on display like this marble floor below. But in fact, the only original art work is kept sealed and hidden from the masses.

There were also sections with recreations, like the art work in the Queen's chamber.

But the narrow strip of stone running down the middle of the next picture, was the original road.

Even though it was overcast today and somewhat drizzly, they are used to 300 days of sun and much of it hot sun. That explains the parched landscape and also why olives do so well here.

Next stop was the manufactured village of Arolithos. This was supposed to give us a feel for a genuine mountain village in Crete. In actual fact, our main reason for this stop was lunch, as that was included in the program today along with some folklore dancers.

We understood that this was to be a light lunch, but it ended up being a huge multi course meal served with rose wine and Greek fire water - not sure what that was, but it came across as an eau de vie. During the meal we were entertained by a talented quartet of dancers, accompanied by a keyboard, lute and lyre. In this photo they were performing Cretan dances in the appropriate costumes.

This was a full day excursion so we - me in particular, since I seemed to contract a cold somewhere along the line - needed a rest when we got back. The rest of the day was uneventful and thanks to modern medicine, I managed to stay awake to complete this entry.