Yes, indeed, one of the toasts my friends and I made during dinner was "To the Minoans, without whom we wouldn't be here." Here meaning Crete. Which was AWESOME.
So basically on Monday night we all took the night ferry to Heraklion, the capitol of Crete. My biggest complaint was how many CYAers just amassed in huge groups and were really loud and obnoxious. I suppose, as Americans, it is unavoidable, but whatever...
Anyway, I slept well enough I suppose, but basically for the entire week I didn't get enough sleep...so then my class and I were the first people at Knossos that morning at 8 AM. Good thing we got there so early because it got really crowded really fast. It was an interesting site. I'm not sure what I think of all the reconstructions. And normally i'm not a big fan of archaelogical sites (which is all I saw on this trip), but my professor was really great at explaining everything and making it interesting. I suppose the fact that I have to write a paper about certain sites also meant I was more alert than usual.
Also, I would like to proclaim: Professor Diamant is a badass.
When some dumb Russian girl was standing on ruins that you clearly were not supposed to stand on, he yelled out, "Get down, you IDIOT!!!" it was awesome. And then when tour guides would try to shoo us out of a certain area, he would totally yell at them (in Greek, no less, and he's American) and basically tell them to piss off because he was teaching a lesson, implying that our class was more worthy than their tour group. Which it was. because those tour guides didn't really know what they were talking about.
Anyway. After Knossos we went back to Heraklion to see the museum. Again, archaeological museums are normally not the most stimulating thing for me, but having Diamant explain things and seeing such awesome items as the Minoan snake goddess was pretty cool.
we had the rest of the afternoon free. Heraklion was a pretty cool city. We went out to a cafe and had dinner and stayed there for a long time. Then we went back to the hotel, and I took a much needed shower. Then we went out and I wore my new dress and heels. yay! I got a lot of looks from Greek men but no annoying advances, so that was nice I guess. We ended up at this oriental cafe that had belly dancers. Unfortunately, they were inside and we were outside, but we still just stared through the window, absolutely mesmerized. I was also drinking hot white chocolate, which has got to be one of the most amazing things ever.
The next day we went to Phaistos, which was like Knossos except smaller and un-reconstructed. We did our thing there, then went to a site called Komos, which was right above a beautiful beach. Which was a tease because it was soooo hot and we were only 1/2 hour away from going swimming at another beach, Matala. But when we got to matala....oh, it was just beautiful. And the water was absolutely perfect. It was pretty cool to realize that a) Africa was only 80 miles away, and b)I was swimming at the very end of September. The only hitch was that I was pretty far out in the water when I got a horribly painful foot cramp. A friend of mine, Jake, was kind enough to actually rub my foot for me, which helped but only momentarily. Eventually we figured out the best thing to do was for me to simply drift back to shore, and Jake drifted with me, which was sweet. When I finally got back to shore, he helped me stand up, and then voila the foot cramp was gone. I definitely owe that guy a drink. After matala, we went and stayed in a nice hotel in the mountains.
The next day we visited three more sites, which were interesting I guess but I think i was kinda tired of Minoan sites by then. But I still took notes and boring pictures (Ooh. a column base!) to help with my paper which is due on Thursday. this is the first paper I'll be writing since May...eeek. Anyway, after this we had the afternoon free in Xania, the second largest city in Crete. I have to say I love the place! I want to go back so badly. We had a good dinner on the harbor there but actually beyond that we didn't do much. This would be because we had a 5:30 wake up call for....
Hiking the Samaria Gorge!
The Samaria Gorge is apparently the longest gorge in Europe, running about 16-18 km, pretty much across the width of Crete from north to south and opening up into the sea. Seeing as this was my first hike *ever* I have to say I was a bit nervous. but it was absolutely amazing! I had a walking stick...and a sorta Australian outback style hat...which made me look like a huge dork but which other people seemed to enjoy immensely. I think the walking stick helped a lot and without it I probably would have fallen...a lot. i still fell twice anyway. One time, we were in the dried up riverbed in the gorge where a donkey had been through. Sabrina then said, "Wouldn't it be funny if someone slipped and fell into that donkey shit?"
I kid you not, less than two seconds later I slipped and fell...mere inches away from the donkey shit. I looked up at Sabrina in shock, who had a horrified look on her face, but then we all couldn't stop laughing about it. What are the odds?
I don't really know what else there is to say about the gorge. It was of course very, very beautiful, except i couldn't look up because then the sky started spinning. Also, it wasn't very difficult, just very very long. We took almost 6 hours to do the whole thing, whole others took 3 1/2. I rather liked taking my time and couldn't really have imagined going faster. It was also *down* the entire way, and I am definitely feeling it today, right below my calves. It is funny, going downhill or downstairs is a problem but going up isn't really at all.
Anyway, I have to say when I saw the sea it was the most welcome sight in the world. And of course it was also a beautiful color, and the sun was sparkling on the surface. I felt so proud of myself for doing it. I mean, for my first hike, an almost entirely downhill 18 km walk? I have to at least give myself a pat on the back!
And then last night we took the ferry back. I slept like a baby, once I could sleep in my cabin...because for the longest time some fumes were leaking and it smelled like rubber cement. Yummy. Then this morning when i got home, I was welcomed with part of the floor ripped off in my entryway due to a plumbing problem (which was not our fault, thankfully). At least I was warned about it in Crete, before we arrived. But then I went to bed and passed out. It was the strangest feeling though. Something about the light, and some weird head cold (or, I hope, allergies) I developed yesterday, the combination made me feel like I had come home sick from high school....odd how weird nostalgic things like that can creep up on you.
Thus ends my ridiculously long entry about Crete. I would absolutely love to go back but for now I have to occupy myself with planning my trip to Italy over fall break, for which I have found very cheap flights. yay!
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