Day 4: Minoan Palace of Knossos

 

At the ruins of Knossos

Today was a special day for me because I was able to celebrate my birthday! It was a wonderful start to the day with the traditional Mediterranean breakfast—classic Greek yogurt (I will never stop singing praises for this yogurt), sunny side-up αυγά, ham, τυρί, and ροδακινο (ή πορτοκαλί) χίμος. After getting a proper πρωινό, we hopped onto the fifty-seater bus and made headway towards the town of Knossos, where the archaeological site of the Minoan Palace is located.

Okay, time for me to nerd out. At the site, we learned about the mythological significance of the birth of King Minos (who was the son of Zeus and Europa), his daughter Ariadne, who helped the Athenian prince, Theseus, navigate the labyrinth with the string, and of course, the beastly minotaur, who was punishment for Minos' trickery. Before coming to Knossos, I knew the myth well because of Jennifer Saint's novel Ariadne, and coming here to see everything in-person was a life-changing experience. Our tour guide advised us to use our imagination and try to perceive what things might have been like back then, and she explained how the palace had been rebuilt three times, how the Minoans and Mycenaeans lived in parallel with one another, and described how over 80,000 people were estimated to have lived there at a single point in time.

Something I found especially interesting was when Arthur Evans excavated Knossos, he included concrete into the foundation of the wooden pillars to help support them, and our tour guide pointed this out to us. She said that this was one of his biggest mistakes because it didn't preserve the original structure of the ancient architecture. Many more original features of the palace were located in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which we visited afterwards. I enjoyed looking at the Phaistos Disk and I ended up doing a few sketches when I got back to the hotel. Apparently, I overheard that there was a tour group from Penn State which was in the museum at the same time as us. It really is a small world, huh?

A couple sketches

We wandered down to the Morosini Fountain and split off into smaller groups to get a meal. I went with the group of co-op students, Henry, Mikaela, Alyssa, and Emma Polyak, and we sat down to eat gyros and vegetarian-friendly falafel, for the latter two. After our meal, we were treated to ρακί (rakí), which is a Cretan drink which symbolizes friendship, nobility, and is a sign of social communication. Henry mentioned to the waiter that it was my birthday, and he came back with shot glasses and a bottle of rakí! None of us really knew what it was, but we soon found out that it was a very strong drink that helps with digestion, and it was offered to us twice more in the same day. We were about to be late for the bus, so we downed one more shot, before meeting up with everyone back at the fountain.

The rest of the afternoon comprised of making a pit-stop at the Nikos Kazantzakis tomb and then doing a pottery workshop! I made a bowl and bought a couple things from the gift shop. On a fun note, two shopkeepers told me "μπαβό" for my courage for attempting a conversation in Greek. At Knossos, "Θελώ ένα μποκάλι νερό," and at the souvenir shop, "Πόσο κοστιζεί αύτο;" The first shopkeeper shook my hand, and that felt like a win in my book. I feel like six months of learning Greek on Duolingo truly paid off and it honestly has enhanced my experience and understanding of the culture here.

Birthday wishes!

I just want to close up this entry with a shout-out to Maria and Theodore for helping make this a very memorable birthday on Crete. This has been a dream come true for me. I grew up eating Greek food for my birthday up in a restaurant in North Jersey, and I went there last year with my family, one of my oldest friends, and my ex-boyfriend. I never would have imagined in a year from that moment that I would be in Greece for my twentieth birthday, and in a much happier place. It is crazy how so much can change in a year. Each day, I have learned so much about how to lead my life with vitality, the value of connecting with others, and the joys of food. I don't believe that changes necessarily happen only in big moments, but rather, in compounding little moments, stacked on top of each other. That is the way of history, and thus is the way of life.

Greek Words

Ζατρικιο = Zatrikio = Chess

Πόρος = Póros = a means of passage; an opening

Οικισμοι = Oikismoi = Settlements

χαρούμενα γενέθλια! = Happy Birthday!