MINOAN MUSINGS .....

It's Spaghetti Night tonight. Just when we thought we were the only Brits in our village, suddenly we find that there are quite a number of us – some we know and some we don't know – but the village we visited five years ago which was quiet, sleepy and where we were greeted so kindly by several elderly Cretan residents as complete strangers from a foreign land, has changed quite a lot. All of a sudden, there is a bit of a buzz with lots of cars and trucks coming and going in the square, the little primary school seems busier, local craftsmen and artisans have work to do. Little by little, we have made a small social nub of ex-Pats and have started arranging to coordinate Greek classes and cheerful bring-along suppers, so that we can keep in touch with each other and find somewhere else to go when the tavernas are shut for the winter, the weather hits us with full force and we are holed up indoors.

Autumn is creeping in slowly. We have just started to add one extra layer on the beds and close the windows in the evenings and are putting off the evil moment when we have to haul out the boxes holding all the long sleeves and warm trousers which will be needed for the winter. According to our local Crete weather forecast, we will have rain on Sunday! Fortunately we have had our winter wood load delivered and have arranged some weatherproofing over it to keep it reasonably dry. Each new morning brings in a crop of dried up leaves on the upstairs terrace and the front porch and K is looking out his pruning knife so that we can pollard the shady tree at the front of the house, which is now beginning to look more and more threadbare.

I am still fired up by the wonderful course I attended in Knossos last week and abstract efforts at my art class on Tuesday reflected all the Minoan designs we had been absorbing over the three days we were there. Hosted by the British School of Athens we arrived at a building called The Taverna (which had confused me when I read the programme as we seemed to be gathering for an awful lot of eating) but which turned out to be a former wayside inn and developed and used by the British School as a base for Archaeology students. The accommodation was wonderfully clean and well equipped – for archaeology students – but a bit turn of the century in the whole gamut of mod cons! However, we all took a huge bunch of keys, since there were numerous doors to negotiate, and settled into our rooms, quite expecting an H Rider Haggard hero to appear and launch us into an episode of King Solomon's mines. The Taverna had been used by Sir Arthur Evans and his builders while his house, the Villa Ariadne, was being built in 1906. Arthur Evans was the British fellow who organised the original dig to uncover the large Palace at Knossos, the legendary home of King Minos and hence the term for the people of this time - the Minoans.  We looked around at the enormously tall pine and cedar trees which had all obviously been planted at this time. They provide wonderful shade for the gardens now and there were plenty of comfy cane chairs on the verandahs to sit and chat between outings and talks.

Villa Ariadne

We went on about eight site visits in and around Knossos in the 3 days. Some palaces, some villas, and a cemetery or two. We needed help to marry up the plans in our hand with what was on the ground and to use our imagination to wonder at the sophistication of people who lived at least/approx 1500 years BCE. We visualised inside and outside staircases, light wells, and kept hearing odd phrases such as the site of a lustral basin and attention to peak sanctuaries. (For a good 15 minutes, my bad hearing was boggling like a dimwit at the idea of pig sanctuaries … !!! [We live and we learn and I checked that a lustral basin = sunken room entered down a short flight of steps found in Minoan palaces so described by Sir Arthur Evans].

On a trip to Heraklion central by bus, we visited the Archaeological Museum – a must – and saw the craftsmanship of the early, middle and late Minoans plus a few later Ancient Hellenic and Roman artifacts. The ceramics were stunning in fantastic shapes and forms with beautiful decoration which seemed so contemporary to my eyes. 

my effort!

Roy and Jan's effort!

We had two afternoon sessions of sorting discarded pottery shards, drawing some of the pieces and a
challenge of reconstructing pots from replicas obtained for this purpose. We had some spectacular
successes but my effort looked terrible. The course ended with a visit to a potter who had made
a speciality of producing copies of the Minoan designs, but had also researched the evolution of
kilns, potters’ wheels, firing techniques and different decorations available to these Bronze Age
master craftsmen.

It took a few days to recover from all the early starts, scrambling to reach awkward sites and general exertion, but we had all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Next stop Phaistos, next April!

BACK TO THE BUREAU

 We have been really busy of late, dodging about and trying to sort out boring paperwork in public offices. One thing you learn about living in Greece is that getting banking, bills, posting letters or dealing with bureaucracy is almost bound to take up an entire day. I once remember reading a book called Parkinson's Law which had a lot to say about time management and how someone who worked in an office would write a letter, put it an envelope and post it. The task would take an hour at the most, whilst a little old lady searching for paper, thinking what she had to say, losing her glasses and having to walk down to the Sub Post Office for a book of stamps would take all day over it.

Parkinson was right – it is all true. Today, I spent the whole day getting a form notarised at our solicitor's office. The lift was broken at his building so I took the stairs and could not find his office anywhere. After getting to the correct floor, confused because there was a mezzanine level which I had not accounted for, I eventually spoke with him and his assistant and we got the form completed and stamped. Added to the fact that the Hotels Bus into town takes about an hour to do a 20 minute bus journey, the achievement so far had taken most of the morning. Then on to the Bookshop to get the papers photocopied. Copies downstairs – what is your name – Kyria Capernaros – please take the package upstairs and pay. Queued for easily 20 minutes to pay 33 cents and got a very fancy carrier bag to put them in! Then to the Post Office. Inside the waiting area, a mutinous and muttering crowd all arrived and took a numbered ticket from the machine at the door but were squaring their shoulders to push in whenever they got the chance. There were seats (fortunately) so I sat down and awaited my fate. My number was 357, the one counter assistant operating from the six booths (all occupied, but not serving anyone) had a box above her head which said 334. Not quite abandoning hope, I looked around and most of us had just one letter to post! It took nearly an hour to achieve! Still the form was for an office in France and, if anything, my recent experience of their bureaucracy is even more ridiculous, so I will wait to see what might happen next and what other challenges the French Government have in store for me! I filled out a form last November to apply for a miniscule portion of a pension from them as a result of working in France when I left college and we have been playing bureaucratic tennis ever since. They have had a copy of every document I possess, and still nothing seems to pacify them. They were desolated that I did not keep my salary slips from 40 years ago – and it will be interesting to see what an Attestation d'Existence signed and stamped by a Greek Solicitor will evoke.

Meanwhile, Kimon had spent the morning at the electricity board and the driving licence authority, so he arrived in the gardens where we had arranged to meet, hot, sweaty and similarly exhausted. He only had to sort out his medication from the pharmacy before he could relax for the day. It all seems much harder than going to work!

Watercolour for the 'Made in Kastellos' Exhibition

We have had some lovely days, though. Last weekend, we signed up for a CIC gentle walk from Arkadi to Pikris down a lovely wooded gorge finishing at a taverna at the end for Sunday Lunch. It was terribly hot and everyone looked a bit pink and burnt when they arrived. As back problems were not yet better, I had waited in the village with my paints and sketch book and had a lovely morning painting landscapes until lunchtime. There were 32 people and 6 dogs in the party, so lunch with all those pooches under the table was a bit lively!

On Tuesday, Art School was fun and the group spent the morning painting from a large complicated still life which was far from easy. Next week, we will no doubt have to tackle it from a different angle!

We have had one or two quick swims in the week, which is the right kind of exercise for back strengthening and while the weather holds, we will make the most of it. Everyone who lives here welcomes September and October as the mornings and evenings are deliciously cool, although the days are still nice and warm.

I am off to the Villa Ariadne in Knossos for an Archaeology Course on Wednesday and slightly nervous, in case it is a bit learned. K did not want to go. The programme looks intensive – starting off for field work at 8.00 am each morning for 3 days and talks/activities until the evening. We will see what happens. I expect the next blog will have lots of information about Bronze Age and Minoan pots. Eviva!