K and I are back after five days away
from home in South Eastern Crete. The weather has been wonderful
with bright fine weather – not too hot by day and cool at night.
Perfect for travelling, walking and swimming. We were booked for an
archaeological weekend at Kato Zachros and, as it is quite a
longwinded journey with a few mountains to cross, we had booked a
stopover night at Sitia in the East of Crete.
The road to Sitia was a bit gruelling
and impatient Cretan drivers kept overtaking us on roads with hairpin
bends. For one moment I found myself three abreast on a narrow road
and with another car coming the other way and had to take evasive
action very fast. I am always shocked that drivers think it OK to
overtake cars which are already overtaking, but there is little or no
fear, or indeed discipline at all among Cretan drivers. We were
doubly glad to travel in one piece and for the rather old
underpowered car to have made the journey safely.
We stopped for a meal break at the
Panorama Taverna in both directions because the view was splendid,
the parking was just off the road and the people were nice. On the
island out at sea were more archaeological remains, but we had to
read about them and move on this time round.
Sitia was wonderful for us. It didn't
look so special to others, but K was able to come down in the hotel
lift and walk straight out along a beautifully paved promenade to
cafes, shops and kiosks as well as the harbour. There was disabled
parking right by the beach. I could nip straight out in my swimming
togs for a swim, just as the sun came up over the mountains and
return back for a hot shower just in time for breakfast. Definitely
our sort of place these days. The sea water is really warm at this
time of year and the beaches nearly empty. With a number of prayers
on my mind, I took a long walk up lots of steps to the church in the
centre of town, but nobody was home.
We pressed on across more high plains,
mountainous passes and small remote villages to Zachros and Kato
Zachros. There is a small Minoan palace there which has been
uncovered in the 1960s – late enough not to have been spoiled or
desecrated. We could trace the outer walls of the palace, various
wings, workshop areas and the remains of houses in a small town at a
higher level. The port road was a raised paved roadway which
continued to the sea (where a large taverna now sits at the water's
edge). It was here we had a talk and our Archaeologist friend Don
Eveley explained all about the remains, their significance and
brought the town back to life for us. What to us looked like four
straight channels of mud were the conserved remains of a potters
kiln, a narrow dog-leg staircase down to a square hole below ground
level a lustral basin*, and a few crumbs dropped in a number of the
water filled pools and cisterns in one part of the site brought forth
a whole colony of terrapins who poked their heads out of the water or
basked on nearby rocks. He had obviously been there before! As a
few of us sat for a rest on large stones under the trees, he
explained that it was probably just at this spot where the craftsmen
from the workshops on the outer skirts of the palace would have
stopped to take a break too. Beautiful ceramics and artefacts had
been discovered on the site which were now in museums locally and in
Heraklion. K and I continued to be amazed by the beauty and
sophistication of fine arts and crafts from 4,000 years ago.
We stayed at a place called Yiannis
Retreat. It was a bit away from the sea front via a long, rough
track but so worth the journey when we arrived with small rustic
stone built cottages fitted out in the most imaginative way. We had
everything we needed for a nice stay and much, much more. It was so
quiet there that K and I fear that we were the noisiest creatures
there.
On the way home, we spent two nights at
Sissi which was also pleasant. K began to walk further afield with
his crutches to get as much exercise as possible. I did some
sketching but we did not manage to find a swimming or fishing spot;
the weather stayed fine every day. We arrived home long before
mid-day on Wednesday feeling as if we had been away for a year and
much refreshed. The mini break was just what the Doctor ordered!
* Lustral Basin is the name given to a
small oblong underground closet reached by stairs shaped in a dog
leg. They are found in most of the Minoan Palace workings in
Crete, near the centre of the building and not on the outer limits.
Nobody is sure, but the name was given to these areas by Sir Arthur
Evans who initiated work at Knossos at the turn of the 20th
century and believed them to be used for some kind of religious rite
of cleansing. There are ledges all around the stairs and base for
articles and remains of large bowls excavated in some. After so many
thousands of years, we can only make mystified guesses about their
use.
