Easter Week in Crete

The Tuesday after Easter, we traveled with our cousin Denise to the island of Crete, a 50 minute flight south from Athens.  We were hoping for milder weather and some beach time, as well as antiquities, shopping and great food.  We were not disappointed, although the weather was changeable enough for us to be in shorts one day and bundled up in jackets and scarves the next.  We were delighted, too, by the profusion of unique wildflowers, and the winding roads up the mountainsides and through the heart of the island to the remote villages where Zeus was born and nymphs still seemed to hover over canyons and springs.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Caroline, Denise and Edie at Knossos

Kids on the town beach at Ierapetra (south coast)

Edie and Denise before Mt. Dikti, on the Lasithi Plain

Kids on donkey with driver, Edie alongside

We made the ride down, after we arrived too late at the Dikteon cave to be admitted to see Zeus's birthplace.  But later on in the week we made it back!

Zeus' birthplace, the Dikteon Cave:  a lousy place to have a baby!

Tablecloths for sale at a shop in the village on the Lasithi plain.  These are made by the shopowner and her daughters over the winter.  She fed us coffeecake and walnuts as a treat and told Edie that she looked just like a Cretan woman with her hair and the shape of her face, leading to many jokes the rest of the trip from Denise about her cretin cousin! 

Edie in the ceramics shop in the same little town.  We met the potter, who wrapped up our (many!) purchases himself -- he is the son of the woman who owns the tablecloth shop opposite.  They told us that we were the first Americans to come through that year, and only the third group ever.  They swore that we were visitors, not tourists, which endeared them to us, We regret now not having bought more -- look at that beautiful blue Cretan pottery at the lower right, which we didn't get any of.  We were afraid that once we started, we might never stop! 

The firestation at Ierapetra -- Gary and Denise visited it, and the fire chief gave Denise an official firefighter's T-shirt to give to her boyfriend Dean, who is a volunteer firefighter in Elizabeth, Illinois.  Nice guys! 

Kids on the seawall at Ierapetra -- they are leaning on the huge jack-shaped concrete formations which form the sea wall! 

Here is the beautiful mosque with its minaret still standing, and the fountainhouse next to it, in the heart of the Ierapetra Old Town.  We love the clean lines and beautiful settings of many of the old mosques -- and in fact we picked out an apartment overlooking this square, from which we intend to evict the current occupants and take over!!!

The beach at Pacheia Ammos -- view from above the town.  We were amazed by the sharp color line between the deep and shallow waters.  It was a very windy day, with lots of waves.

At the end of the week, we visited the archaeological sites at Gournia and Knossos.  Gournia is excavated but unrestored; Knossos, the home of the famous frescos, is partially restored according to the imagination of its excavator, Sir Arthur Evans.  We agreed that we preferred the unrestored site of Gournia better, as you could better see the whole site and get your own sense of its workings.

At right, inside one of the rooms at Knossos, with restored pillars and copies of the frescoes found on its walls.

The palace at Gournia, with the courtyard at right, leading to the throne room beyond.  Note the spectacular setting with the sea in the distance.  The rooms in the foreground were probably storerooms for the palace.  Many staircases still exist and can be used to move from the upper to the lower parts of the site.

Finally, what we really came for:  our very own Greek god, who is working at the Casa di Pasta in Ierapetra!  Sorry he's so blurry, girls!

Denise, Gary, and the god himself at Casa di Pasta.  Oh yeah, good food too! 

Roman fishtanks at Kakkos Bay near Koutsounari

Finally, is any photo journey of Greece complete without the obligatory shot of a sea of sheep churning around the car?  This one was taken on the mountainous road leading out of the Lassithi plain.

--  Edie Folta, April 24, 2004

Click here to return to the main page.