Crete: time for goodbye

On our final day in Crete, we left the hotel early and caught the bus to Heraklion. Leaving our bags at the not-so-secure left luggage at the bus station, we got the next bus to Knossós, arguably the most famous ancient Minoan palace (and unfortunately, recently struck by lightning!).

Plenty of people were at the gate offering us tours, but we decided to take it at our own paste. From the snippets of tour guides' presentations that we overheard, we wouldn't have learnt more than was on the information plaques or what was in my guidebook.

Knossós was fairly unique compared to many of its counterparts, in that it was partially restored here and there. Aurthur Evans, who is credited with discovering the site and leading the excavations, intended to fully restore the palace but his work remains unfinished, as modern thinking is to leave the ruins as they were found. I have to admit I liked the part-restored nature of the site, as it was interesting to see how it would have looked, whilst retaining some of it more or less as it was found.

The entire settlement of Knossós is though to have covered about 75ha - far beyond the palace itself. Most Minoan palaces of Crete were damaged by fire in 1400BC; Knossós remained relatively intact until an earthquake in 1700BC. A lot of the information around the site suggested that no-one was really sure of the function of most areas and Arthur Evans made a lot of educated guesses, with signs like 'this room may have been..'.

We spent the remainder of the day in Heraklion itself, half-following a walking tour recommended in my guidebook. We scoured the backstreets for lunch, but finding nothing to satisfy our need for the authentic, we ended up in the main market square with al-fresco dining for the masses. Whilst it was no gourmet feast, we did find ourselves surprisingly satisfied with a kebab and some tatziki in a non-descript looking cafe.

 We visited the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which was nicely laid out and an attractive place, but it turns out there is a limit to the amount of ancient pottery one can take in a day! Taking a final break before getting the plane back, we reflected on the trip over one of the iced coffees the Cretians like so much (take their advice and add sugar - this is more of an iced espresso than a latte!). Overall Crete is a beautiful island, with plenty of mountain scenery, cultural heritage and delicious food!