Around Greece: Visiting Crete
Crete is the largest Greek island and it's where the first European empire was founded. You can find everything here, from mountain hiking to beach lounging to gorgeous museums and Bronze Age ruins. Crete has its own food and flavors, a rich agricultural heritage and honestly, you could spend an entire vacation here. But, I only have one day. So, let's get to it!
Getting to the Island of Crete
First things first, let's talk about how you're going to get to Crete. I took a day trip here from Athens, which is the route many people take to get here. You basically have two options for getting here: a boat or a plane.
I actually go into a lot of detail about this in my blog about getting around in Athens. I got here on an overnight ferry and I do not recommend that.
But however you get here, once you're here you will be surrounded by history and scenery and great food.
Landing at the Port of Heraklion
I started my Cretan journey at the port of Heraklion. This us the largest city in Crete and it's quite beautiful.
During the Bronze Age, in the 3000s to around 1450 B.C.E., this island was home to the mysterious Minoan culture, the first empire builders in Europe. They worshipped bulls, we think, and built an incredible palace complex on the island. They ruled the Mediterranean in those days, sending trading vessels as far away from Egypt and the Middle East in the east and all the way to Italy in the west. Many mythological figures and legendary stories later told by the ancient Greeks actually came from the Minoan people.
Journey to the Real Atlantis
Many believe that Crete and the Minoan culture is the actual inspiration for the legend of Atlantis. The palace at Knossos was a marvel. Four stories high, covered in paint and mosaics and sculpture, it was incredible. And, it was not surrounded by walls. The Minoans did not need walls to protect them. Their massive fleet of ships patrolled the waters and no one was big enough to challenge them. Not even mighty Egypt would step to them.
But nature is the great equalizer. Around the year 1450 B.C.E., the nearby Greek island of Santorini basically exploded. It was a small island with a mountain at the center. And one day, the top of the mountain disintegrated in plumes of liquid fire and ash.
The mountain was a volcano. And the wrath of the gods was upon the Minoan society. The volcanic explosion was massive, ripping apart the island of Santorini and sending an enormous tidal wave right here, to the shores of Crete. A massive wall of water swept over the island, nearly leveling it completely and leaving very little behind.
This was the beginning of the end of the Minoans and, potentially, the actual historical event that sparked the Atlantis legend. Plato was the first to write down the tale of Atlantis, in which he described a highly advanced society, rich and prosperous, that was wiped off the face of the Earth in a single day and night.
That's what happened here on the island of Crete.
How Crete Became Part of Greece
After the island of Crete was destroyed in 1450 B.C.E., it became part of the Mycenaean Greek empire and was part of their trading network. According to Ramses IV, Pharoah of Egypy, this was where the ships of the Sea People mustered before they sailed to attack Egypt along the Nile Delta.
Romans occupied Crete after Rome conquered Greece in the last century of the B.C.E. era. After Rome fell, Crete became part of the Byzantine Empire, but it was mostly left on its own. The island was frequently raided by pirates.
Arabians occupied Crete in the 900s and built a city right here where Heraklion now stands. The Byzantines reclaimed the island in the 1000s and in the 1400s, the Venetian occupation began.
What to Do in Crete
This is why when you pull into Heraklion, you'll see the old Venetian port, which is a stunning feature on the water.
Along the Waterfront
You will also find a statue, graffiti art wall, the mermaid of Heraklion sculpture and a beautiful lighthouse. FYI, there is a public toilet at the mermaid statue if you want to walk along the port and get a closer look at these features.
Hiking Trail
Now, I'm a big museum goer, huge history buff, so I wanted to see a lot of the historic stuff here. But Crete is amazing if you're an outdoor type person. There are beautiful hikes you can take here and there is a stunning pink sand beach.
The Historical Museum of Crete
But if you're a history person like me, you're going to want to hit up the Historical Museum of Crete. It opens at 9 am and costs around $10 per person to see. That's in U.S. dollars, but Greece does use the Euro.
It's not a large museum. I was there for about an hour and got to see everything. It is very beautiful. There is a permanent collection of artifacts from all eras here, dating back to the Bronze Age. The museum has a small selection of ceramics and sculptures from ancient Crete, along with Byzantine art and artifacts and items from the Ottoman period. There's even a WWII exhibit. It's a nice museum and I do recommend it if you're a museum person.
At the Archaeological Museum
If you walk for about 15 minutes, you’ll get to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which is also very beautiful. They have many ancient artifacts from Crete, including some of the famous stuff that you've seen in documentaries and textbooks. You'll see bull figures and snake goddesses and it's actually a really cool and super gorgeous museum.
It looks very Greek, with a ton of marble and lots of white and big, open spaces. Very pretty and if you're in Greece during the summer, this is a very nice escape from the heat for a ticket price of about $10 a head.
This museum is the best place n the world to see Minoan art. Many of the items here were actually found at the fabulous palace at Knossos and it has been collecting and displaying artifacts since 1883, which is when the Minoan civilization was being re-discovered by historians. Crete had managed to become nearly independent at this time after many years of occupation by the Ottoman Empire.
Freaking Out About the Phaistos Disc
One of the most famous objects in the entire world is housed in this museum and let me tell you, when I saw it I completely freaked out. Now, I have given this tip before but I'm going to repeat it here just so y'all know. If you are in a museum or in some attraction and you see a whole bunch of people grouped around something, go find out what that something is because it's something famous.
This was my experience with the Phaistos Disc. So, I was in the museum and either I did not the disc was here or my head was too full of information already to retain this tidbit, but I literally did not know the Phaistos Disc was at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. So I see this whole group of people crowded around an exhibit and my radar goes up , right? I'm like, okay what's over here then?
And the crowd parted right then, and I saw it. It's a little circular piece of cronze and I was across a big room and I saw it there on its pedestal and I hollered out "It's the freaking Phaistos Disc!" like a madwoman, right, and a whole bunch of people looked at me, I think, but that's fine and I don't care because I stood within like, 3 feet of the Phaistos Disc and it was a huge moment and I'll never forget it and if you're as big of a history nerd as I am, you need to go to Crete to see this thing full out.
So me and maybe three other people know right away what the Phaistos Disc is, because we're enormous history nerds. For everyone else, its totally okay if you have no idea what this thing is because around 99 percent of the world does not know what this is. But that's why you're here today with me, because you know darn well I am going to tell you what this is.
So, we have been talking about the Minoan culture. They worshipped bulls and ruled the seas, they made beautiful art and built a wild palace complex on Crete. They also had an entire language. And we have no clue in this world as to what that language says.
We can't decipher it. The Minoan language, known only as Linear A, remains a mystery. And the Phaistos Disc is a famous example of that mystery. This is an extremely well-preserved disc full of Minoan writing. It's far from the only sample of Linear A that historians have found. In fact, a lot of Minoan writing is put on these bizarre little discs like this. But the Phaistos Disc is extremely well preserved and the characters are very distinct and once, it was thought that this very item could be the key to unlocking the mystery of this language.
So far, it hasn't been. We still can't figure out what the disc says, so if you happen to visit Crete and go to the museum and look at this disc, who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to crack it.
One of the reasons the text is so difficult to decipher and a feature that makes the Phaistos Disc look so cool is because the Minoans did not write from left to right across the disc, the way most of us write today. They didn't even write from right to left. They wrote in a strange circular pattern, a spiral, and linguists just have not been able to figure it out.
Like, seriously, they can't even figure out which way to read it. So the mystery of the disc has helped to make it famous, and it's sitting in a beautiful museum in Crete that you should definitely check out if you're on the island.
All Around Heraklion, Capital City of Crete
Within the city of Heraklion, you can find lots of beautiful things and actually a lot of historical things as well, so you can see cool stuff for free if you’d rather not pay for a museum ticket. There are several really ornate and beautiful fountains in the city, including the Morosini Fountain, the Yenicar Aga Fountain and the Bembo Fountain.
There are several other points of interest around Heraklion that are worth seeing, including the Venetian Gate of St. George, the monument to the battle of Crete, the Chania Gate and the old Venetian City Walls.
But the main thing I wanted to do in Crete is probably fairly obvious by now: I wanted to see the ruins of the palace of Knossos.
The Palace of Knossos
Knossos was the largest and the longest continuously inhabited palace on Crete. The ruins you can find on the island today date to 1800 B.C.E. The palace was in use well into the 1300s B.C.E., even after the bulk of the Minoan Empire had collapsed following the volcanic eruption that may or may not have inspired Plato to write the legend of Atlantis.
The palace was incredible in its day, adorned with detailed frescos and paintings. Some of the columns are still standing here. It's a really huge site and it's really very cool if you're into ruins and history and that sort of thing. If you aren't, then probably this is not going to be your favorite thing.
Cretan Food, a Taste of Greek Island Cuisine
But if food is your thing, then you've got a ton of options in Crete. There is a distinct Cretan food culture here and octopus is particularly popular here. You can get it as a street food in Heraklion. Look for it at the Heraklion Central Market. It's open daily and it's literally right in the center of town.
Other popular dishes you might want to consider are stuffed zucchini and the lamb, which is locally raised. However, you need to watch out for bones. There will be bones. For dessert, try Cretan cheesecake.
I did not eat any of this in Crete. I barely ate anything in Crete because I was horribly sick while I was in Crete. I did try some coffee and I had, I think, a sandwich at the little cafe at the palace of Knossos, which was only mid as far as places to eat go. I can speak highly of the pharmacy where everyone was very nice and tried to help me, even though they did not speak English and I do not speak Greek.
A Day on the Island of Crete
Crete is beautiful, whether you like the beach or being out in nature or visiting farms or you like historical stuff like me. But the sun is no joke. You need to wear sunscreen and a hat. The sun can make you go silly, it can make you sick if you get dehydrated and it will fry the heck out of your skin. So please protect yourself.
Also, it is not easy to get around on the island of Crete. There really aren’t any buses, so you have to take taxis or walk everywhere, so make sure you know what you’re going to do for transportation while you are here.
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