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Romanticism of the Greek myths |
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Travel Articles >> Locations >> Europe >> Greece
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In spite of the fact that I have already been in Greece itself earlier, I knew just a little about the Greek island of Crete, mainly the information from legends and myths of the Ancient Greece. Island Crete is the most southern of all Greek islands and the biggest one. It is washed by four seas: the Aegean Sea, the Ionian Sea, the Cretan Sea and the Libyan Sea, which are the parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Our small city Malia is located on the coast of the Cretan Sea. Crete met us with deserted and burnt mountains, but this landscape was quickly replaced with a more beautiful one. And the view was marvelous: flat mountains are dissected by the most beautiful gorges with numerous caves, olive groves glisten like silver on their slopes, and curl clouds sleep on tops of these mountains. And the color of the sea... I have no words to express it! From pale turquoise to deep emerald, and then to dark blue color. Small waves with surfs on napes softly beat against sandy coast and quickly run off back. And you can see flecks of light even on sandy floor through the glass calm. I have never thought, that it could be + 30 degrees centigrade in October in the local latitudes!!! If you have a bright imagination you can imagine a flying dragon while looking at the map of the Greek island of Crete with its original shape. Crete extends for 267 kilometers from the West to the East and for 12-60 kilometers from the North to the South. It is one of the four largest islands of the Mediterranean after Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. Our tiny resort town Malia, of course, the former fishing settlement, is situated in the eastern part of Crete. It is very small: 5-7 streets built up with small shops with beach attributes and taverns. And nevertheless, the first thing that surprises us is the beach of our hotel. Mostly beaches on Crete are pebbly, not sandy ones. But our beach has had absolutely wonderful fine sand. And only in 200 meters away from the shore in the sea – there is a tiny island with a whitish small chapel. And there is a chapel even in the territory of our hotel. Our first excursion was to the Knoss Palace. Certainly, the word "palace" is too much for it. Now they perform archaeological digs here. They told us many interesting legends. Many centuries ago strong and wise King Minos with the Queen Pasify lived exactly there. His architect and inventor Daedalus has built for him very original palace with many entries and labyrinths. Gods of the Olympus loved this King very much. And the powerful Poseidon has presented him a huge bull from whom the Minotaur was born later. It was a devil incarnate and a real monster, they fed it with the most beautiful Athenian girls and young men regularly. But noble Theseus has managed not to lose the way in this labyrinth with the help of Ariadne's thread and to kill the furious Minotaur... These are fairy tales, but you can see the entry to the labyrinth in which the Minotaur supposedly lived... In general the Minoan civilization was the most developed one. At that time the Cretans knew mathematics, astronomy, agronomics; they could make bronze mirrors, knew a lot about creams and enamels; they were good handicraftsmen. Powerful and furious eruption of the volcano, located even not directly on Crete, but on a small island far from there, and a huge tsunami as a consequence, has completely destroyed the Minoan civilization. And nowadays the volcano George, which is located among the Cyclades islands, still has not extinct, it only sleeps. The other day I have seen TV advertising of the mineral water "Aqua minerale": ethereal, thin and clear girl went with a small bottle of water along the snow-white Greek island of Santorini. And I became full of thoughts... How?! I am a traveler with the 20-years experience of foreign tourism, who have visited the Maldives and the Seychelles, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, have overlooked such a beautiful Greek island as Santorini?! I will be jiggered if I do not visit this island! And now my dream comes true! Our following excursion is to Santorini. We took the huge 8-deck ferry "Golden Prince" to get to this fine island. The name of this island comes from the Saint Irena’s cathedral, and there was no such island before the eruption of nowadays sleeping volcano. The island itself is a continuous volcanic rock, that is why the sand on its rare beaches is sometimes of black, sometimes of red color. There is practically no water there, all the water is imported and nevertheless, there are a lot of small and low vineyards on this island. And as a result there is a lot of wine also. The main part of cities such as Pyrgoros, Ia and Fira is located very high on rocks. How beautiful are multitiered belfries with bells and snow-white churches with dark blue round domes! There are more than 350 of them on this island and you can get married in any of them! All mud huts, small houses and constructions are mostly of white color, including small fences. Everything seems to be absolutely fantastic and sugar-made here! Numerous Hollywood stars have chosen this island for having a rest. The prices for a single room in nice hotels are between 500 and 1500 Euro per day. Yes, it is substantially more expensive, than on Crete, but it is worth this money! What a beautiful view opens downwards to the sea with numerous small bays. One could see azure sky, bright sun and emerald sea with snow-white deckers! Jacque Ives Cousteau has been searching for the mythological, sunken city of Atlantis for a long time exactly there. Looking at this miracle I feel like I am in a dream! Later we found an absolutely unusual small restaurant, it was completely white with small white archaic sofas. With closed eyes, we imagined ourselves Dionysus with a bowl of wine, and half-reclining at ease, ordered the real strong Greek coffee with a glass of ice water. Looking at a landscape below us, we didn't feel like leaving that place. What a fine, pure and rich with iodine air is here. There are huge streaming stairs downwards to a bay; you can ride a donkey there if you wish (certainly, for additional payment). But we have pity for donkeys and use the ropeway. Slowly, fluently and without any fear we moved down directly into a bay in closed 6-seater cabins only for 4 Euro. On the way down we took some fine specific snaps. In spite of the fact that I have nearly received sunstroke on Santorini, and my head got scorched very much, I have managed to see unforgettable amenities and landscapes and have inspired by positive emotions for a long time. I remember the words of the guide who accompanied us from Santorini: "There are more churches than houses, more wine than water, and more donkeys than people on this island!" For several days we bathed and visited such cities as Iraklion, Hersonisos, Elounda, Ierapetra, Agios Nikolaos on our own. I like Iraklion with its Venetian-styled houses and wide paved central street, going down directly to the port. And there is a really fantastic fortress in the port, which has been constructed to stay forever. Incoming waves wash upon its majestic walls loudly. This is really fascinating sight. We wanted to admire this sight longer and sit down in a tavern. We enjoyed the freshest fish, seafood and white wine like real gourmands. Greek cuisine is magnificent: simple, tasty and healthy, and in many respects, due to olive oil. And Greek songs and dances: their melodies seem a little bit sad only at first. They sing "Sagapo" in Greek, and even not knowing their language at all, you can guess, that it means "I love you". Their dances are very fiery, and in fact, they dance not only sirtaki. The majority of the Greeks have very good voices; they get it directly with mother’s milk. We headed to the canyon Lassiti. I climbed steeply upwards into the mountains to visit the Cave of Zeus. According to the legend, Rhea, the wife of the god Cronus, left for the island of Crete in order to escape from her husband, who ate his children and did not want to share his greatness and power with them. On Crete Rhea has given the birth to Zeus. The cave is located very deeply under the ground, but there are originally illuminated fantastic stalactites and stalagmites in it. One has the feeling that he has got on other planet! But in order to get there you need to be in good sportive shape. I am proud of my doing this! Our following excursion was to the island of Spinalonga. We traveled by ship from the city of Elounda, the elite resort where the Greek government uses to have a rest. This is beautiful and hospitable small town with a lot of small shops, hotels and taverns. There is one original big tower with clock directly in the port here. The way took about 15 minutes. The island with a round toothed fortress was visible from apart. We made a walking tour around the island during more than one hour with our guide. The fortress has been constructed by Turks about two hundred years ago and they did not wish to leave that place for a long time. Then Greeks have decided to organize a hospital for lepers on the island. They brought lepers from all Greece to this place. And only then Turks have left the fortress. They gave quite good pensions, doctors and nice treatment to those patients. The local population boated directly by sea to trade with those patients... Till our days the ruins of this fortress remind us of its former power and beauty, and the central gate face directly the sea. This island is washed by crystal-clear and emerald-turquoise sea water. There are no waves at all. You can take very beautiful snaps from the seaside. They look like professional picture postcards. During our visiting of the island of seagulls we bathed in the very warm sea in October (+25 degrees Centigrade). Later, already on the ship we amicably ate pork barbecue, carefully prepared for us by Greek sailors. Many aggressors tried to enslave the population of Crete during many centuries. There were the Romans, the Darians, the Venetians and the Turks. But it is impossible to subdue such proud and courageous people. Nowadays the Cretans also hold sacred their traditions, they remain hospitable and benevolent. Living in this heavenly place it is a shame not to compose legends, myths and songs about this region! Its charming beauty and unusually fine nature attracts travelers from all over the world. The land of Crete is blessed! I urge travelers, who are fed-up with beaten tracks of Turkey, Egypt and Thailand, to visit this island. For sure you will not be disappointed! |
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