LUSTRAL BASINS AND OTHER LUXURIES

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 20^th 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.