Today we started the day at the Siteia Archaeological Museum. The museum is currently under reconstruction, so most of the artifacts did not have labels as to what they were. All of the artifacts were Minoan and were collected from the various digs, including Palaikastro, which we visited later. The coolest thing at the museum was a collection of Minoan sarcophagi.
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| Palaikastro |
After the museum we piled onto our bus and headed to Palaikastro, a Minoan settlement dating from the Bronze age to the early Minoan period. The site consists of a town with no central building (i.e. palace). They have found the remains of a refuge (used by the townspeople in times of crisis), a temple, a cemetery and harbor. They have been unable to locate a palace or other authoritative building and will be starting excavations in the next few weeks to continue to look for it. It was an immense site and was really cool to see. The hills were covered with sage and oregano, which mixed with the salty breezes, gave the air an amazing fragrance. I wish I could have bottled it to take home!
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| Kato Zakro |
Another short bus ride took us to Kato Zakro, the site of a Minoan palace. This was probably one of the coolest sites I have seen so far. The palace is surrounded by the excavated remains of a Minoan town. It is estimated that the site was inhabitant between 2000 and 1450 BC. The Linear A tablets that we saw in the museum in the morning were found at this site.
After finishing at Kato Zakro we headed to the beach for lunch and a swim in the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean was heavenly and the blue is so much more vibrant in person than in pictures. This is the second time that I have seen the Mediterranean – the first being in high school when I went to Spain, however we went in winter the Mediterranean was a depressing slate gray at the time. After a totally refreshing swim, we sat down at a beach side restaurant and had a wonderful lunch. We ordered Moussaka (sort of like a lazzonia with eggplant, potatoes, ground beef and cheese) , roasted veggies, Greek salad (fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onion, and feta cheese), rabbit, beets, cauliflower leaves stuffed with rice, fried cheese, and baked potatoes. The food was amazing and we got to experience firsthand the Greek hospitality. The owners of the restaurant were extremely friendly and gave us desert (fresh fruit and something like a cinnamon flan) free. They sat right down at the table with us and asked us all sorts of questions about where we were from and shared stories about living on Crete. They then produced a bottle of raki, which is like a Greek moonshine, and proceeded to pass it around. I think our tour guide, Bella, got a little tipsy!
After a short rest on the beach, where we were “accosted” by a small Greek child hissing at us, we got back on the bus. We made one final stop at the Monastery of Toplou. It is a small monastery with a little Greek Orthodox church decorated in the Byzantine style and then headed back into town to the hotel.
Tomorrow we are headed to Iraklion.
After finishing at Kato Zakro we headed to the beach for lunch and a swim in the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean was heavenly and the blue is so much more vibrant in person than in pictures. This is the second time that I have seen the Mediterranean – the first being in high school when I went to Spain, however we went in winter the Mediterranean was a depressing slate gray at the time. After a totally refreshing swim, we sat down at a beach side restaurant and had a wonderful lunch. We ordered Moussaka (sort of like a lazzonia with eggplant, potatoes, ground beef and cheese) , roasted veggies, Greek salad (fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onion, and feta cheese), rabbit, beets, cauliflower leaves stuffed with rice, fried cheese, and baked potatoes. The food was amazing and we got to experience firsthand the Greek hospitality. The owners of the restaurant were extremely friendly and gave us desert (fresh fruit and something like a cinnamon flan) free. They sat right down at the table with us and asked us all sorts of questions about where we were from and shared stories about living on Crete. They then produced a bottle of raki, which is like a Greek moonshine, and proceeded to pass it around. I think our tour guide, Bella, got a little tipsy! 
After a short rest on the beach, where we were “accosted” by a small Greek child hissing at us, we got back on the bus. We made one final stop at the Monastery of Toplou. It is a small monastery with a little Greek Orthodox church decorated in the Byzantine style and then headed back into town to the hotel. 
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