The last two port of calls of our cruise experience were Rhodes and Heraklion (Crete). Rhodes was kind of a wash, but I really enjoyed the latter. I felt unjustified to say I've been to Crete for merely visiting the Knossos ruins, but gladly crossed it off my bucket list.
Sights visited: Rhodes (Medieval old town, Archeological Museum, Street of the Knights, Palace of Grand Masters), Knossos
The cruise sailed overnight with good speed from Patmos and stopped at Rhodes for the whole day, from 7:00~18:00. No tender or bus transfer was required, as Rhodes is the largest island of Dodecanese and its ports were big. I figured for the amount of time available, it might be worth it to tour independently so didn't participate in the excursions.
Rhodes is most well known as the location of Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also known for the Siege of Rhodes, the two battles between the Ottoman Empire and the Knight of Rhodes (Knights Hospitaller) . In both battles, the Knights of Rhodes and their alliance were able to defeat the much larger navy led by Suleiman the Magnificent, but the island eventually succumbed to the powerful Ottoman empire.
Rhodes was an island of strategic location, and the old town definitely reflected that with the many layers of walls built towards a citadel.
Rhodes's windmills were used for grinding grain back in the seafaring merchant days.
At the end of the pier was a narrow waterway with two columns at each side. One column had a buck and the other a deer on top. They marked the location of where the Colossus of Rhodes used to stand.
Since Rhodes was under muslim rule for quite some time, there were many hamams, mosques, and Ottoman style architecture. The reddish building in the above photo was built during the Italian period of the island (early 20th century), hence the very Venetian style.
After touring the port area, we entered the outer most layer of the medieval town and quickly found the Archeological Museum.
The museum housed all the artifacts found on Rhodes from early Hellenic to Christian times. To be honest I didn't see much that could surpass Athen's archeological museum. I was more interested in the building itself, which was the actual hospital building used by the Knights Hospitaller.
The stone balls were were meant to simulate cannon balls.
Rhodes old town is highly recommended by travelers for shopping, but I was a bit disappointed to find the pricing generally expensive. The stores also looked like any other souvenir shops in other parts of Greece.
Greek sandals were very popular souvenirs, and Rhodes was said to be the place of origin for these handmade leather footwear. I found them quite painful to walk on because of the thin sole, so my plan to shop here was cut short.
The Palace of the Grand Masters was where the leader of the Knights Hospitaller lived and worked. The castle had been rebuilt during Italian occupancy, so it looked too perfect to be from Medieval times.
The palace is now used as a museum, and there were exhibition of classical artifacts and also modern art.
There was a modern copy of Laocoön, since the three sculptures that made Laocoön were from Rhodes. I've already seen the original in Vatican, so this was a bit anticlimatic.
Much of the mosaic floors in the palace were Byzantine and transported from Kos.
The Knights Hospitaller, after retreating from Rhodes, moved to Malta. As they gradually lost their influence due to the changing times, they settled in Rome, and was renamed in modern terms "Sovereign Military Order of Malta". This coat of arms is probably just for demonstration purposes, as the real headquarter is located in Rome.
Outside of the Grand Palace is the "Street of Knights", which back in the days were filled with inns for the knights to stay at.
The entire old town inside the walls were UNESCO World Heritage, but we were pretty much done touring around noon. On the way back to the ship, we noticed this small stretch of sandy beach by the harbour. The colour of the water was so beautiful, and the sand was so soft! Our trip in Greece so far had been history-based, so I got pretty excited over this small beach.
Then came the last day of our time on the Celestyal Olympia. We had to wake up at 5:30 AM to get ready for our excursion to Knossos on Crete! The ship docked at Heraklion, one of Crete's largest ports, from 7:00~11:00.
Crete is the largest island of Greece, and the fifth largest island of the Mediterranean. An adequate visit takes a week or so, but we only had a few hours. We were swiftly transported by coach from the port to Knossos ruins, with a very brief tour of Heraklion town from the bus. It would be great if the excursion could include the ruins and the archeological museum, but we only had time for one.
Minoan civilization was a powerful Aegean civilization dated 27th ~15th century B.C., until taken over power by the later Mycenae civilization. English archeologist Sir Arthur Evans first excavated here and like many of the old school archeologist, he did a lot of reconstruction, including painting parts of the palace.
The Palace of Knossos was made famous by Homer's "Odyssey" as the residence of a bloodthirsty king, Minos, and a labyrinth housing the monster Minotaur. Our guide excelled in connecting mythology with history. Knossos palace was a huge palace complex even by modern standard. At its peak it and the surrounding area housed 100,000 people! The image of a double-axe, labrys, was all over the palace as it was a symbol of the Minoans. The word "labyrinth" was derived to describe a huge complex which one could easily get lost in.
The palace was huge, but our guide knew where the highlights were so we didn't have to walk extra distances to try to find them. We first arrived at the "Upper Throne Room", where many vibrant frescoes were found.
The frescoes on site were copies. Minoan art was stylized, fun, and often depicted plants and animals. The fresco on the right showed a blue monkey, an animal that was not present on the island, which showed that the Minoan traveled extensively.
Top fresco showed how the palace was coloured in mostly a deep red. The bottom fresco showed a group of women dancing to an audience.
In Minoan art, men were painted red-skinned and women were painted white-skinned. Otherwise, there were not much difference between the body shape or facial features between the two. This was a fresco named "Ladies in Blue".
In the same room was the "Bull-leaping Fresco", showing the ceremonial sports practiced.
The entire palace had a sophisticated watering system that still existed today. The buildings were also built to form a natural air-circulation system, so the rooms were always cool in the hot weather. It just blew my mind how advanced architecture was back thousands of years ago.
The Minoans were influenced by ancient Egyptians, but they had very different philosophies on large buildings. The Minoans were very practical, so the entrance to this "Throne Room" was well hidden. The walls were decorated with Griffins and lilies.
This brings us to another famous Knossos frescoe, the "Prince of Lilies". Evans had tampered with this painting as well, adding pieces of wardrobe that didn't belong. This painting is popularly believed to be King Minos's son, Androgeus. He was an athlete who traveled to Athens and beat the Athenians at every game, but in turn got killed out of jealousy.
Using this fresco, our guide explain another piece of the Minotaur mythology. King Minos was said to demand Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to be sacrificed to Minotaur. A possible origin of the mythology might have been the death of some Athenian athletes in Crete, doing sports they were not familiar in, such as the bull-jump. The Athenians then came up with the story of the Minotaur to explain such happenings.
I find it hard to believe that King Minos was portrayed to be such a violent king, given that the Minoans were rather peaceful. They paint dolphins and sea urchins on their walls, and not a single artwork depicted conflict or war.
Pottery was an integral part of the Minoan civilization, as they were a civilization of trade. These were the largest pots found on site. Their main export were jewelry and bronze work made from imported metals. Olive oil, wood, and grapes were also substantial exports.
Modern archeologist generally disapprove of Evan's painting over the ruins, even though he did use the frescoes as reference. The north gate of the palace was one of the most brightly painted.
I felt like I did learn a lot on this tour, so maybe guided tours aren't always bad!
In the afternoon of the same day, the ship was approaching our destination of disembarkation, Santorini. The captain made a special PSA that passengers should all go to the deck to check out the "magnificent entrance" to Santorini.
He was so right, and I was in awe. It was surreal.
The majestic caldera of Santorini was unlike any other islands we visited previously.
It was a beautiful day without a single cloud in the sky. The towns on Santorini looked like sugar icing on a chocolate cake. I don't think I'll ever forget how splendid it was. Photos don't do it justice, but I just kept pressing the shutter because I was afraid to miss a shot!
All the information we needed for disembarking were given to us in writing the night before. After checking out at the ship reception, settled our balances and got our passport back, we took a specific tender boat to Santorini's Athinios Port.
I wasn't converted into a cruiser by this experience, but I did enjoy the comfort for a few days. It is still not my preferred style of traveling, but I would consider it if there is a clear advantage and only for a segment of the trip.
Our luggages were on another tender boat and were already waiting for us at the dock.
We were finally in Santorini, the most popular Greek island. We'll see in the next post if it was overrated, or truly earned that reputation.
