Sunday Adventures

So I may have been a bit remiss in my updates, but I am going to catch up, promise!

Sunday was another day of adventures. This time to east Crete. The day started out rather cloudy and grey looking that day, but it actually cleared up before too long.

Our first stop along the way was the Minoan house at Chamaizi. It was a little overgrown, and difficult to take pictures of but the site was really cool to wander around. It's an unusual house that is round rather than square like most of the others we see. They found some interesting religious objects inside of it, too.

It is perched on top of a little hill, and has some solid walls, as it was a rather windy little perch.

The view from it was quite lovely, though. It would be a great spot to keep watch on the surrounding areas.

The we headed off to Sitia, to take a look at the little archaeological museum they had there. The best piece here is the ivory figurine from a temple area in the Palaicastro settlement. For some reason my picture turned out very blue... And it is difficult to get a good picture. But it's a fascinating, very detailed little piece.

I also love these stone pieces, which come in all shapes and sizes from miniatures to small useful sizes.

They also have a lot of large ceramics which are nifty. Pithoi like these are used for storage.

While larnakes like this one were used for interning the dead. (I totally used this one in my masters' paper!)

This beautifully carved ivory box and the jewelry inside it came from Mochlos, which is a nearby excavation that shares INSTAP space with us. Unfortunately Gournia has never produced anything quite like it...

Linear A tablets! The as of yet not fully deciphered language of the Minoans that predates the earliest forms of Greek. It was mostly used for keeping records and was only accidentally preserved when these reusable mud tablets were burned and thus fired in the destruction of various areas.

This little container comes from the Geometric period, which followed the dark ages in Greece. Art is returning though!

I just thought this glass was pretty, it's actually from later, Roman (I think?) occupation of the island.

From there it was in to Kato Zakros!

Here's the lovely little entrance into the central court and the palace around it.

Ta da! These am central court areas are one of the defining features of the 'palaces' of the Minoans.

So are these little constructions called lustral basins.

This one was a bit less than divine, though, unless you believe in frog gods.

I love this view. This is around the palace, showing a street and the houses that would have been to either side in the city about it.

And some stairs! I love stairs.

I also found baby pomegranates!

And the famed Zakros turtles. There are a couple depressions that gather water (potentially pools or cisterns) and these little turtles live in them!

Beyond the site is Dead Man's Gorge which we hiked a bit of. I love this sign. It's just the sign... And the gate... And nothing else, no fence to either side or anything!

It was quite lovely, if hot.

And had this huge fig tree! Which I, of course, climbed to the tippy top of, it had a fabulous view!

This little oath from the site to the beach is my favorite.

Look it all those grapes to be!

From there it was off homewards. We stopped by Palaikastro to poke around.

Another great street!

And then visited Vai! I'd never been there before but it was this lovely, huge palm forest. The only one of its like on Crete.

These trees were huuuge.

And there was a great view from above.

This was a great rock!

From there was peeked at Itanis, which is described as a Doric city. I don't know much about the site, but it was pretty cool!

There was a basilica, according to the sign.

With a convenient central rock for posing upon.

We decided this house was probably not ancient, but still pretty cool looking.

They had a massive palm cluster there too!

From there we headed back to re Panorama Cafe for dinner among friends while we watched the sunset. We still didn't see the green flash, but we'll keep trying!

Hope all is well at home!