Aghios Nikolaos, Crete – July 24

30 degrees – not too humid at all

Crete is an island (5th largest in the Mediterranean) with 5 bigger towns and many smaller ones.  Tourism is the main industry as is olive oil.  We learn today that the average Cretan eats 28 litres of olive oil each year!  That to me seems crazy!  That’s about a litre every 2 weeks.  Apparently very few Cretans buy their oil as every family has their own production. 

olive oil jars

The excursion today is to the bronze age archaeological site of the Palace of Knossos in the town of Heraklion.  The drive is about an hour which always sounds like a lot to me until we get going and see all there is to see along the way and of course the guide talks the whole time.  The guide talking the whole time can be a blessing (usually is) or a curse.  I like all of the info the have to impart – today’s guide is fantastic!  The whole way there he tells us story after story of myths – few of ancient Greece, and most of the Minoans.  We learn today that the Minoans were on Crete about 2000 BC (1500 before the ancient Greeks.)  Many of the stories are about the myth of King Minos and the Minotaur which the palace was basically built because of.

relief fresco of the bull and olive tree

frescos of men

The palace has been entirely excavated and all that is being done now is maintenance.  The main attraction is the ruins of the walls that once were the labyrinth of the Minotaur.  As you can see in one of the pics there are walls (now only 2 or 3 feet high) that come to dead ends – very cool.  About 1000 people one lived at the palace so we see a lot of their clay jars and frescos – the ones in the pic are representations of the originals which is in a museum.  It is very hot, crowded and there is little shade, but this tour is very interesting with a great guide – the guide really makes all the difference.  Without the guide we would have walked around and had really no idea we were looking at ruins of a labyrinth. 

labyrinth remains

We are back on board by lunch and have little time for wandering the town, so we have a room service lunch and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.

In the evening we have a reservation in one of the ship’s 4 ‘specialty’ restaurants – theme: Italian.  It is very good, but the unique aspect to this place is their olive oil menu.  With the bread comes a waiter specifically tasked with describing and serving olive oil (and vinegars) – about 10 oils and 8 vinegars.  It is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  Sure I’ve been in restaurants where oil and Balsamic is served rather than butter (and even had lard a couple of times) but this is on a whole other level altogether – I’m flabbergasted.