Tanaquil's trip to Crete, June 13th - June 20th 2003
On June 16th (second Pentecostal Day in the Greek Orthodox Calendar), we went to Iraklio by bus, to visit the city and especially the prehistoric Minoan site of Knossos, the ancient palace of the Minoan kings of Knossos and main trade center of the middle northren region of Crete. In ancient times (around 2000 B.C.) this place must have been a busy center of trade, exchange of goods from all places on the island and from abroad (since Crete has always been a center of trade and cultural exchange) and a regional center for farmers and other citizens to hand over their tax fees, which were paid in natural goods in those times. That's why the palace is a conglomeration of rooms of all kinds. The place for the king and his family to live was rather small inside the complex: most rooms were designed for storage of goods. The palace was excavated in the late 19th century by Sir Arthur Evans, who partially reconstructed the complex. Nowadays, there's not much left of the business which must have dominated life here in ancient times. Even if there is a great number of tourists, the ruines, situated about 5 km outside Iraklio, in the middle of hills covered with olive- and vinyards, provide a serene environment, where the visitor can not only come eye in eye with the remains of a proud culture that flourished four millenia ago, but also come to rest after travelling to the site or after visiting the busy and noisy city of Iraklio. Even tourists from abroad start to speak in a low voice when they walk the path leading to the entrance of the palace.
A plan of the palace of Knossos
For more detailed information about the site of Knossos, please visit these websites:
Information from the Greek Ministry of Culture
A virtual tour through Knossos on the Daedalus Site
A tour through the palace of Knossos
The Archaeological Museum of Iraklio
Here are the pictures of my visit:
