In May 2024 Wendy and I travelled to Europe and after a string of flights landed in Berlin. By now we are quite familiar with that city and caught public transport to Emily and Guido's apartment to be greeted by our grandchildren and their parents. I have previously reported on their family, so, suffice it to say, we had a very pleasant stay and even got out to their country place again.
From Berlin we flew to Greece and had an initial few days in Athens, before returning to Berlin, then back to Greece, a week later, to join a cruise of the Greek islands and Türkiye (just one port).
At the end of the cruise we spent a self-guided week on Crete. We finished our European trip with a week in Bulgaria, followed by a week in the UK, before flying back to Sydney.
Ancient Athens
Like most cities Athens owes its existence to geography. In this case its 'acropolis' is a natural site for a fortification and has been occupied by warlike humans (those in need of a fortification) since Neolithic (late Stone Age) times.
Later in this trip we would visit the ruins of the Minoan civilisation that evolved and flourished for nearly two millennia, much earlier, between 3000 and 1100 BCE, when Athens was still a backward, neolithic stronghold.
As we would confirm later, on Thera (Santorini) and Crete, The Minoan civilisation was perhaps the most advanced society the world had yet seen. Yet, after thousands of years, it crumbled, in part due to natural seismic events, and partly as their neighbours developed militarily.
By the first millennium BCE Athens was ruled by the Mycenaean Greeks who's civilisation persisted until engulphed by the chaos of the 'Postpalatial Bronze Age'. This period was characterised by the destruction of settlements and collapse of the socioeconomic system. It corresponded with the emerging 'Prehistoric Iron Age' and the invention of new weapons and more effective methods of warfare. Slowly order was restored as better equipped rulers emerged and by the fifth-century BCE several new city-states had coalesced in Greece.
Principal among these was Athens, that rose with the support of the goddess Athena, from whom the city took its name. The period from 480 to 404 BCE has been called the 'Golden Age of Athens'. It began in 478 BC, after the defeat of the Persian invasion by an Athenian-led coalition of city-states, known as the Delian League. Primitive Persian gods were apparently less effective than Athena in securing victory, having not yet been supplanted by Zoroastrianism.
After peace was made with Persia in the mid-5th century BCE, what started as an alliance of independent city-states became an Athenian empire'. Athens relocated the Delian League treasury from Delos to Athens, cementing its position as the dominant naval and civil power. Amongst other religious thanksgivings, was an additional, larger, temple to Athena, the Parthenon, housing a large golden statue of the goddess, on the Athenian Acropolis.
As Wikipedia tells us: "With the empire's funds, military dominance and its political fortunes guided by statesman and orator Pericles, Athens produced some of the most influential and enduring cultural artifacts of the Western tradition. The playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides all lived and worked in 5th-century BC Athens, as did the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates and the philosophers Plato and Socrates."
As we never tire of hearing, except for slaves and women, all citizens were equal. Representatives and other leaders were elected for defined periods and the State functioned as a democracy.
Alas, the Golden Age of Athens lasted less than a long lifetime. Very soon, Phillip II of Macedonia, in the north, would employ improved military tactics to conquer most of Greece, in addition to: modern Albania; North Macedonia; most of Bulgaria; and a bit of Turkey (as far as the Bosporus). His son, Alexander the Great, would go on to defeat the great Persian Empire and then to conquer a good deal of the known world, all the way from Egypt to the eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia. Democracy gave way to autocracy.
Yet again, this dominance was short lived as, in the west, the Romans would further perfect warfare, with the help of the same gods renamed (Athena became Minerva), to build their own, much longer lived, empire.
In 88 BCE Athens was sacked by Roman forces and in the following centuries it was repeatedly plundered by the enemies of Rome.
The glory days of Ancient Athens were well-and-truly over.
The Romans would, in turn, make significant advances in engineering (for example aqueducts and glass windows) and civil society (for example, the law), setting the scene for the advent of a novel, trinitarian, god (unitarian and man-gods were old hat) and start of the Common Era (CE).
Around Athens
Today, Athens is again an important city, with around 3 million residents. The capital and administrative centre of Greece, it is also an important European port and industrial centre, in addition to one of the world's most visited tourist destinations.
It was a public holiday in Athens when we arrived. It was a day to remember Jesus taking heavenly-leave, for-the-time-being, (until His long-awaited return at the end of days - a strangely Zoroastrian concept). As a consequence, the Acropolis, the principal place of interest, was closed.
This was slightly odd as we were here to wonder at the remnants of a much older religion, that had apparently, for its believers, sufficed to defeat their enemies and achieve and sustain their civilisation, featuring a pantheon of a dozen Olympian gods and plus hundreds of minor, specialist gods, and even a bunch of half-man-half-gods.
Yet, we were not concerned with this consequence of religious revisionism. We already had tickets for tomorrow. It was a very nice day and pleasant to wander around Athens and sit in a café beside some ruins, neither are unusual in this city.
I was last here in the eighties and I don't recall having to book, nor pay, for entrance. If there was a charge it must have been small as I went there more than once. Yet, back then one didn't need to pay to go into an English cathedral either. Maybe we could claim to be worshippers? Dionysian's?
A café beside some ruins, not unusual in this city
Those once barren fields are now covered by the modern city.
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Around Athens - prior to a climb up the hill to Athena's edifice
On the Acropolis
The following day, we joined a large crowd of ticket holders and made our way up to the summit. We had both been here previously, Wendy over fifty years ago and I nearly forty, and struggled to remember what has changed. Certainly, the crowds are bigger. And the cameras are mostly gone now to be replaced by mobile phones, that didn't commonly exist back then, certainly not with built-in cameras, GPS or the Internet. Returning home I got out my old photo album. The pictures of the Erechtheion are almost identical. Yet the Parthenon has mysteriously grown, no doubt as a result of the scaffolding and the crane.
I imagine that in another 40 years it will be fully reassembled and look just like the one in Nashville Tennessee.
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Parthenon on the left - the Erechtheion (a much older temple) on the right
Or what's left of the original Parthenon after being: set on fire; looted; blown up; damaged by earthquakes; raided for antiquities;
degraded by acid rain; trampled by tourists; and 'repaired' by restorationists
These buildings bore the scars of all those ancient invasions and lootings but continued to stand more-or-less in tact well into the Current Era when the Ottoman (Turkish) possessors of the City were besieged by the the Venetians, who had been in the process of acquiring Ottoman territory along the Adriatic. The Turks retreated to the stronghold of the Acropolis, where they demolished several small structures, set up gun batteries and used the Parthenon to store their munitions.
On the evening of 26 September 1687, a 'miraculous shot' from a Venetian mortar fell among the munitions. The resulting explosion killed 300 people and led to the complete destruction of the Parthenon's roof and most of the walls, assuring a Venetian victory. Yet, it was soon decided the that the city was too costly to defend and the Christian population was assisted to resettle, beyond the reach of a possible Ottoman reprisal. Before leaving, the Venetians attempted to take some ancient monuments as 'spoils' but the statues of Poseidon and the chariot of Nike smashed as they were being removed from the western pediment of the Parthenon. In the end, they contented themselves with several marble lions, including the famous Piraeus Lion, which had given the harbour its medieval name, Porto Leone, and which, today, stands at the entrance of the Arsenale di Venezia (in Venice).
So, a much-diminished Athens, now a small town, was abandoned to the Turks and the Acropolis lay in ruins.
Athens in the 1820s
It was under Turkish occupation and had shrunk in size to a large village.
But now it was the turn of the British, who were in their turn building an Empire, their young aristocrats seeking out ancient culture on their 'Grand Tours'. One such was wealthy Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, who after completing his education in Paris took up a diplomatic career. At the age of 32 he was appointed ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople.
According to Wikipedia:
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Following discussions with the diplomat and archaeologist Sir William Hamilton, Elgin decided he would engage, at his own expense, a team of artists and architects to produce plaster casts and detailed drawings of ancient Greek buildings, sculptures and artefacts. In this way he hoped to make his embassy, "beneficial to the progress of the Fine Arts in Great Britain." Elgin procured the services of a Neapolitan painter, Lusieri, and of several skilful draughtsmen and modellers. These artists were dispatched to Athens in the summer of 1800, and were principally employed in making drawings of the ancient monuments. Elgin stated that about the middle of the summer of 1801, he had received a firman from the Sublime Porte which allowed his agents not only to "fix scaffolding round the ancient Temple of the Idols [the Parthenon], and to mould the ornamental sculpture and visible figures thereon in plaster and gypsum," but also "to take away any pieces of stone with old inscriptions or figures thereon". The document exists in an Italian translation made by the British Embassy in Constantinople and now held by the British Museum... |
Another 'Grand Tourist' was Lord Byron, who strongly objected to Turkish highhandedness in giving away 'Greek' culture and condemned Elgin for removing 'relics' to 'northern climes abhorred'.
| Dull is the eye that will not weep to see Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed By British hands, which it had best behoved To guard those relics ne'er to be restored. Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved, And once again thy hapless bosom gored, And snatch'd thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred! |
Those abhorred climes from which he, Byron, had recently been banished after his, decidedly unfilial, relationship with his stepsister was jealously made public by his cousin and ex-lover, who called him: "Mad, bad and dangerous to know".
The Acropolis Museum
There is ongoing debate concerning the removal of the 'Elgin Marbles' that were taken to London in 1801. Not the least being a constant harangue, everywhere one turns, at the Acropolis Museum.
This museum, like its predecessor, has taken down plenty of its own for safe-keeping (they were getting ruined out there) but wants the actual British ones 'back' - replicas will not do.
I wondered how far an object could be removed from its original location to safe-keeping before it had gone just too far? And when replaced in-situ by a replica, can that replica still be admired as was the original? Can Joe Public tell the difference? I'm reminded of the statue of David in Florence and the replica caryatids standing up there on the hill.
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The Acropolis Museum - holding the original marbles, taken down from the Acropolis, including the original caryatids
except for one, which remains in London. Those supporting the porch of the Erechtheion, on the hill above, are replicas.
For it's part, the British Museum points to its much larger patronage and makes the points that: they were rescued from crumbling unprotected ruins; and are a part of humanity's collective culture, along with millions of ancient artifacts that have been removed from their place of origin to thousands of old and new world museums across the planet, for the education and edification of the local and visiting populations; in addition to anthropological and historical research.
Returning them could be the very thin end of a very large wedge. Museums across Europe, the United States and even Australia are shaking in their collective boots.
The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum - my photo from 2010
Modern Athens
As mentioned above, the Golden Age of Athens was a brief flowering. Yet Athens was frequently subsumed into the empires that followed. Most notably, the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), the long-lasting continuation of the Roman Empire centered in Constantinople during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the Ottoman Empire, that followed, after the fall of Constantinople, in 1453.
Greek influence within the Byzantine Empire, that persisted for almost nine centuries, was enormous as Greek became the 'lingua franca' during the development and dissemination of Orthodox (Eastern) Christianity, over that period. The Ottoman Empire was similarly influenced. Muslim scholars rediscovered the Ancient Greek authors from the Golden Age, translating and studying their writings, creating a new 'Islamic Golden Age'. so that today much we have of Aristotle; and other Ancient Greeks has been retranslated from Arabic. The advances in knowledge made by Islamic scholars during the Middle Ages and their interactions with China, that brought gunpowder, paper and advances in medicine and mathematics to Muslim Europe led, in turn, to the demise of Medieval society and the scientific revolution.
Wandering around Athens it is easy to find remnants of all these past periods in the city's history. A Roman wall; a Byzantine church; an Ottoman mosque.
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Among museums of Athens, the Benaki Museum had been particularly recommended by several recent visitors of my acquaintance. And we were not disappointed. It covers the span of Greek history, from the prehistoric to the modern, illustrated with artefacts from each period. And, would you believe it, there was an exhibit featuring the British 'Grand Tourists' and specifically Lord Byron. Wendy was particularly taken with the fabrics and more recent fashions, while I found the historical exhibits fascinating. We spent several hours there.
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George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) remains an important figure in the history of modern Greece and in particular Athens. In addition to his status as one of the most important poets in the English Language, with a significant influence on romantic philosophy and on the enlightenment, he used his influence, wealth, and ultimately gave his life, in the cause of Greek Independence, against the Ottoman Empire. He died in 1824, at the age of 36, from a fever contracted after the siege of Missolonghi, while leading a Greek army against the Turks. In his twenties Byron acquired a reputation as a 'rake': "Mad , bad and dangerous to know" and became a an archetype: 'The Byronic Hero'. His one child conceived within marriage, Ada Lovelace, was a founding figure in the field of computer programming, based on her notes for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Amongst other acknowledgements of this, she has a computer language named after her. |
More than once on this trip I imagined what might have been if the barbarians and religious zealots had not succeeded, time and time again, in overcoming rational discourse. Might humankind have long-ago developed evidence-based medicine, engineering, and social sciences?
Yet, as I never tire of repeating, every past second, every action, every inaction, of what went before us, was essential for us to be here at all, to observe our world. So, it was just as essential that that Venetian who fired the shot that blew up the Ottoman munitions stored in the Parthenon as it was that Lord Elgin made off with one of the caryatids and part of the frieze, for me to have been here to see the results.
On the other hand, some things don't seem the change much. My old photo album records the same 'silly walks'. Presumably, it's a new generation practicing the old traditions but they look just the same.
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Another site to see is the palace guards. Wendy beat me to posting these guards on Facebook. 'Silly walks' indeed. Presumably, with it's a new generation practicing the old traditions. |
Skip this section if you have no interest in Cruising
We left Athens from the Cruise Ship Terminal at Piraeus, aboard the MS Oosterdam a Vista class cruise ship of the Holland America Line. This was our fifth such cruise and I was asked, via Facebook, how she compares with the previous ships and their operators.
As we had previously sailed on a newer Vista class ship, the MS Queen Elizabeth, operated by Cunard, we were expecting her to be similar. She's not! The fit-out and decor are quite different. And the staff management and systems, for example dining entertainment, service etc, also differ. On the positive side, while the 'staterooms' (cabins) are similar in size, the bathrooms are larger. Possibly as a consequence, there are fewer guest cabins on the older ship and she carries less passengers, when fully booked.
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Our Oosterdam 'stateroom' and the afterdeck pool - there is another pool midships with a sliding cover
None of the cruise ships we have been on has been terrible (we have been told that some, catering for a younger crowd, are).
So, comparing those we have travelled on comes down to nit-picking.
All the Ships are comfortable and employ similar technology: modern diesel-electric propulsion, employing electric stern azipods and bow thrusters (rudderless), making them very manoeuvrable, stable and capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots. But age is a factor. A steady improvement in fit-out is evident and the two oldest ships are now just a little dated. On-board management; entertainment; and dining experiences and options (number of bars and dining areas); differ between ships and their operators.
So this was our ranking at the time when asked (ship only - not the cruise destinations):
- Celebrity Edge: This is a very nice ship, with multiple dining areas and bars (in different styles) the most spectacular theatre and first class entertainment.
- Queen Elizabeth: Beautiful decor; lots of quiet areas; upmarket dining room; several bars, including an English Pub; quality entertainment.
- Celebrity Equinox: Very nice; good entertainment and food
- Celebrity Solstice: Very nice - very similar; sister ship to Equinox; a bit less polished
- Oosterdam: It's still OK but the ship is older and the food and drink is not as well organised. The entertainment is no where near as good or as varied as on the other ships.
The overall cruise ranking would be different, comparing apples and oranges. Our top two locales would be The Greek Islands (warm) and the Baltic (cold). Big plusses included: interesting history and culture; and ports or moorings adjacent to the points of interest (minimal bussing). That was a big down-side, particularly in Vietnam and Thailand Read More...
All our roaming leads to Rhodes
The Island of Rhodes was our first port of call. It's best known as the location of Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Wikipedia tells us:
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The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2nd–1st century BC. While the entries have varied over the centuries, the seven traditional wonders are the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon... Of the seven wonders, only the Pyramid of Giza, which is also by far the oldest of the wonders, still remains standing, while the others have been destroyed over the centuries... Instead of "wonders", the ancient Greeks spoke of "theamata" (θεάματα), "things to be seen"... Hence, the list was meant to be the Ancient World's counterpart of a travel guidebook. |
You can see the Great Pyramid and a remnant of the Temple of Artemis elsewhere on this website but not a pinch of dust remains of the others, long fallen and looted for bronze, stone etc.
The Colossus was a huge (for the time) statue of the Greek sun god Helios, erected by Chares of Lindos in 280 BCE. Actual contemporary records tell us he was constructed to celebrate the successful defence of Rhodes city against an attack by Demetrius I of Macedon, who had besieged the island for a year. It collapsed during an earthquake in 226 BCE and lay in ruins for some time.
Tourists are, erroneously, encouraged to believe that he stood astride this little harbour mouth.
Most scholars believe he stood to one side and was about two thirds the height and in a similar pose to the Statue of Liberty, holding a similar torch. This is not surprising, as the design of the Statue was based on historical descriptions of the Colossus.
Yet, the actual location of the Colossus is disputed by some scholars and the Acropolis of Rhodes, which stood on a hill that overlooks the port area, is another plausible location.
The ruins of a large temple, traditionally thought to have been dedicated to Apollo, are situated at the highest point of the hill. Archaeologist Ursula Vedder believes that the structure was a Helios sanctuary, and a portion of its remaining foundation could have provided a platform for the Colossus.
Remnants of the Acropolis of Rhodes
In other respects, Rhodes resembles other Greek islands and is popular with holiday makers and other tourists. Like me, for example. It's my second visit here.
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Rhodes - tourist/shopper paradise - unless you are into sand and surf - then there are better island choices
Alanya, Antalya, Türkiye
After departing Rhodes and a nice little sail, Oosterdam pulled into Alanya, on the Turkish Riviera.
According to a Hollywood-like sign local enthusiasts love it.
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Chief among the old town's attractions are its 13th century fortifications, the castle and the walls,
culminating in an historic hexagonal red tower, adjacent to the harbour.
On the other side of the headland is the famous Kleopatra Beach where the Egyptian queen is said to have swum.
Obviously, long before the Ottoman fortifications were constructed.
We had pre-booked a Ship Excursion to Side, an ancient Greek city with similar antecedents to Ephesus, along the coast.
The origins of theatre. Greek theatre, from which all theatre descends, originated with the Dionysian religion - Bacchus to the Romans. Athens has a couple on the Acropolis slopes, as does almost every ancient Greek and Roman city. They had both entertainment and religious significance.
We saw two examples in Türkiye today. Along the way to Side we stopped to see, the well preserved and still functioning, Theatre of Aspendos among the best we've seen anywhere. The Roman Theatre at Bosra, in Syria, is another and there's another nice one at Hierapolis, in Turkey
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Theatre of Aspendos, Antalya province
Those Romans were obviously: both physically fit; and not afraid of heights.
At Side there is another - less well preserved. Later on this trip we would see the remnants of others in Plovdiv in Bulgaria.
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Theatre at Side
At its peak Side was an important Greek then Roman Town. It became less so during the Christian Byzantine (Eastern Roman) period and was largely buried during the Ottoman period. The modern, Greek speaking, towns nearby grew until, like many Greek speaking communities along this coast they was forcibly depopulated as a result of a population swap between Turkey and Greece in 1923, that we learned of during our last visit to this coast and again in the Genocide Museum in Armenia.
As unpleasant history is often kept from children and tourists, our guide on this excursion failed to mention the ethnic cleansing, that would soon inform both Hitler's and Stalin's subsequent actions in Poland. Yet, it did serve to explain why modern Side is Turkish and now given over, almost entirely, to its ancient Roman antecedent, in the name of tourism.
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Side township - now dominated by the ancient ruins
The ancient city was once substantial and like other ancient sites a certain amount of reconstruction has taken place among the archaeology, to better illustrate the past and to provide some nice backdrops for photographs.
For example, the remains of the Temple of Apollo, built during the time of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (c. 150 CE), remains Side's most notable tourist attraction.
Between 1984 and 1990, the remaining five columns and their capitals were restored. As the concrete base carrying the columns started to wear down, and the iron bars inside the columns came to the surface effected by weather conditions, restoration works were carried out in 2017. The broken parts of the columns were repaired with same material used during the restoration in the 1980s (Wikipedia).
Of course, like the Parthenon, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben and numerous other tourist sites, it would be a pity to let nature take its course. Yet, there must be a fine line between preservation and the reconstruction of ancient buildings in the interests of tourism?
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Temple of Apollo and Side Forum - restorations evident
Limassol
Our next port of call was Limassol on the island of Cyprus.
In the 60's Cyprus was often in our news.
People of Greek and Turkish origin, who had lived alongside each other for generations, but were distinguished by their mother tongue and religion, had fallen out.
Cyprus had recently been a British Crown Colony, and part of the British Empire. In 1960 it was granted independence and became a self-governing Republic, in the terms of a newly drafted constitution. Yet now the Greek speakers wanted to give that up and unite with other Greek speaking territories as part of a wider Greece, Enosis.
Civil violence soon broke out, with both Greece and Turkey rattling their sabres in support of their respective coreligionists. A Greek coup d'état in 1974 resulted in a full-on Turkish invasion to prevent Enosis. As a result, the island was partitioned and remains so.
So, I was interested to see how things are today.
The first thing we noticed, off the boat, was that Cypriots drive on the correct side (the left). But, like Australia, the currency is no longer the Pound. Cyprus is now a member of both the European Union and the Eurozone. There is still a Turkish enclave but sporadic unification talks continue. As in Ireland, religiously motivated killings have largely abated and people are getting along better again. Cyprus is now one of the wealthiest EU members in the Mediterranean, so integration with poor Greece is no longer on the agenda.
We had prebooked a ship's excursion on a bus that went along the coast to the Archaeological Site of the Tombs of the Kings and the nearby Archaeological Site of Nea Paphos.
Cyprus, was an important source of copper ore (the origin of its name) and metal during the Bronze Age has a long history of invasion, by the usual culprits: Ancient Greeks; Macedonians (Alexander); Romans; Byzantines; Ottomans; British; etc. These tombs of the wealthy date back to the Roman period.
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The Tombs of the Kings - actually, there were no kings at this time - they are tombs of wealthy Romans
The guy with the camera is a doppelganger
In 1965 a team of Polish archaeologists investigating a couple of Grecian statues nearby - the gods Asclepius and Artemis - discovered the buried remains of a town at Paphos, believed to have been destroyed and abandoned after the earthquakes during the 4th century CE.
Among the remains so far uncovered are two large Roman villas built during the 2nd century CE. One of these, called the House of Dionysos, after several imaged of the god found inside, is now a museum displaying its mosaic floors.
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House of Dionysos - a sample - there are many rooms with almost complete mosaic floors
Along the coast, we stopped to admire the rock outcrop that was the birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite (the Roman Venus). Believers are divided on how this took place. Wikipedia tells us: according to one school of believers, Gaia (Mother Earth) asked one of her sons, Cronus, to mutilate his father, Uranus (Sky). Cronus cut off Uranus' testicles and threw them into the sea. Aphrodite was born out of the foam caused by Uranus' genitals.
The local version asserts that Aphrodite’s Rock is a part of the lower body of Uranus. In this version, Cronus ambushed his father and cut him below the waist with a scythe. As he tried to escape flying, Uranus lost parts of his truncated body and testicles into the sea. A white foam appeared from which a maiden arose, the waves first taking her to Kythera and then bringing her to Cyprus. The maiden, named Aphrodite, went to the assembly of gods from Cyprus.
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The birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite
A local myth is that any person who swims around the Aphrodite Rock will be blessed with eternal beauty
Aphrodite/Venus attracted a large cult following in Paphos, at the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, which was later crushed by the Eastern Roman Christians (Byzantines).
As is often the case with these excursions we also paused for a shopping opportunity, on this occasion at modern Paphos.
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Modern Paphos and a, mostly stationary, wind farm at Kouklia
(most land based farms spend over 60% of their time stationary - to get a 50% utility factor they need to be off-shore)
It was time to return to the ship and set sail for Santorini (Thira)
Thira
According to Wikipedia:
| Santorini (Thira) is the result of repeated sequences of shield volcano construction followed by caldera collapse. The inner coast around the caldera is a sheer precipice of more than 300 m (980 ft) drop at its highest, and exhibits the various layers of solidified lava on top of each other, and the main towns perched on the crest... During the Bronze Age, Santorini was the site of the Minoan eruption (circa 1600 BCE), one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. This violent eruption was centred on a small island just north of the existing island of Nea Kameni in the centre of the caldera; the caldera itself was formed several hundred thousand years ago by the collapse of the centre of a circular island, caused by the emptying of the magma chamber during an eruption. |
When large ships visit they typically anchor in the caldera and use their tenders or the local ferry services to take passengers ashore as did the ship I came here on in 1988. Modern cruise ships like Oosterdam don't anchor, they simply hold station, using their electric drives (side thrusters and azipods)
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In the Caldera. No lines out -modern cruise ships like Oosterdam don't anchor
Our bus tour's first stop, once ashore, was Akrotiri, sometimes called the Greek Pompeii as the town was preserved by being buried in volcanic ash.
The difference being that this burial event was 1,600 years earlier, during the early bronze age.
Unlike Pompeii, no entombed bodies were found, neither were their tools or weapons so archaeologists conclude that the city was evacuated in and orderly manner before it was buried, Indeed, there is evidence of a previous event, after which they returned and cleared up.
So all we know is from their paintings and artefacts. Many jars and other ceramic objects have been unearthed and several pieces of abandoned furniture were buried and their form recreated by pouring plaster into the voids left in the ash. One of these was a three legged votive(?) table of remarkable sophistication.
The whole town is quite remarkable. It contained four storey town houses with running water and sewerage using clay pipes, plumbed to a central facility outside the town. The walls were decorated with frescoes and bathroom floors tiled.
Our guide, who was impressed by the sophistication of the women's fashions, but wanted to make things mysterious, particularly their imagined religion, asserted that Minoans couldn't read and write. I protested: "then how many casks of wine did they need to trade for a dress?" but was slapped down.
Yet, given the sophistication of their technology, her assertion is clearly ridiculous. Bronze making, alone, is an elaborate multi-stage process, requiring different ores, techniques and furnace temperatures and some recorded system of weights and measures. And trading in copper and tin; or wine; or olive oil; or gold; or almost anything; requires a system of equivalent values, even before currency when these equivalences were determined by bartering or market trading. A large quantity of elaborately marked clay seals has also been found, which may be indicating: ownership; contents; quantity; or value. The museum on Crete suggests that metal ingots may have provided a standard of exchange (think the 'gold standard' of not so long ago).
In fact, Akrotiri (as we call it), was a wealthy maritime trading town with records made and kept in Linear A script.
Wikipedia tells us:
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Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete {and Thira} from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It consists of over 300 signs... 1 syllabic signs |
Linear A is so ancient that, in the absence of a 'Rosetta Stone', remains undecipherable. One difficulty in translation is that we don't know their language or fully understand their religion.
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One observation is that the town had no defensive structures. But it was an outpost of Minoan Crete the dominant naval power for a thousand years, so enemies were probably restricted to pirates and met at sea.
The lesson I took away, back in 1988, was how close humanity got to the modern world - but for some bad ideas about how the universe works (intervening gods and so on).
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My 1988 photos. When I was here in 1988 there was a different roof.
That one fell down in an earthquake; then, in 2005, a new roof collapsed during construction, killing a tourist.
The roof seen today is a second replacement and seems pretty solid to me.
Comparing my old photos with the new its clear that one or both roof collapses damaged the taller structures - hopefully those amazing frescos, still on site in 1988, were successfully conserved.
From Akrotiri, in the south, our bus travelled the whole length of the picturesque island to Oia in the north.
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Oia is probably the most photographed location in Greece. Unfortunately, due to the presence of three cruise ships, one larger than ours, it was packed with people in places shoulder-to-shoulder. I very quickly tired of this scrum and made a retreat to a pleasant cafe where I ordered a coffee and a cake and just admired the view.
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It's a tough life
Our bus was soon to leave for Fira/Ipapantis where we would have some lunch then catch the cable-car down to the ferry stop and back to our ship.
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The tough life continued - a nice meal and great view
Unfortunately, the cable-car turned out to be an issue that soured the experience for many, as several thousand people attempted to catch the same cable car. This consisted of a string of six six-person gondolas going down every four of five minutes the balancing string coming back empty. You can see them in the photo above. I estimated it has a capacity less than 500 passengers per hour. The two hour queue was half a kilometre long. The ferries were equally inadequate. Another (shorter) queue at the bottom. Some decided to walk down the road used by the donkeys, the white zig-zag in the photograph above. Unfortunately, it was slippery with donkey-doo and one of our companions at the dinner table that night had slipped and injured herself.
Our next stop would be Mykonos
Tourlos
Arriving at the Mykonos Cruise Port at Tourlos, we initially took a bus tour of the island. Among the points of interest was the island of Delos, offshore, the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis (who's temple was one of the seven wonders previously referred to here).
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On Mykonos many houses have these characteristic 'pigeon houses' - a source of protein
In the distance is the island of Delos - it's the preserve of anthropologists and is tourist free.
Not to be overawed by the proximity of Apollo, we also visited a church/monastery (built by those Johnny-cum-lately Christians with their single three-in-one God).
In fact, there are hundreds of churches on Mykonos. All very picturesque. Apparently, every family had or has their own church, in order to ensure the safe return of fishermen. Apparently, Apollo is little use in that regard - He's not Poseidon.
We also visited Kalafati beach which, we were told, is much visited by jet-setters. Gaze in wonder - what celebrities may have waded here?
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Ano Mera is home to the restored 16th-century monastery Panagia Tourliani,
which houses holy icons and features - as Wikipedia tells us: a 'striking' bell tower and a marble fountain.
We did a tour of the holy objects in the museum - but there is none so holy as the icon, seen in the picture above,
set in a golden frame with silver accoutrements and a face blackened by time and circumstance.
The faithful queued to offer a silent prayer.
The beach, on the other hand, recalled much more secular pursuits - boys the girls met when backpacking.
Mykonos town is reached by ferry or bus from the cruise port that's a 30 minute hot walk to town. We caught the ferry.
Once away from the very touristy seafront it's quite a steep walk to the top but the view is worth it. Again, picturesque.
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There are more photos of Mykonos in the album - click on the image above to see them
Our next stop was the last on the cruise - back in Athens - from where, after a flight delay, we flew to Crete where we had rented a car for the following week.
Schisma Eloundas
We reached Crete by air in the afternoon, and, after picking up the car, drove the 70km to Schisma Eloundas and the Elounda Heights hotel. As suggested by the name, the Hotel is up a steep hillside and has a great view. But the roads are not great.
The most direct approach road provided me with some driving challenges in an unfamiliar manual car car. How do you do a hill start on a narrow, very steep, slippery road, without a conventional hand-break (it had an electric toggle)? It was a six speed box, with the gear stick on the wrong side (of course) and the reverse in the wrong place. Obviously, I finally figured it out, with couple of stalls and some wheel spinning - we aren't still there. Fortunately, the longer way up was easier - or was I just getting used to the car? Another little driving adventure.
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Elounda Heights hotel - isolated but very comfortable
Our base in the east of the island
Agios Nikolaos
From here we were able to make a day trip to Agios Nikolaos, a rather overhyped resort town. Yet it's home to the quite new Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos housing an amazing collection of finely worked Minoan: ceramic, gold and bronze objects dated back as far as 3000 BCE. Well worth the visit
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The town of Agios Nikolaos boasts a famous, 'bottomless', lake, off the harbour, surrounded, on three sides, by high rock cliffs.
The claim that the lake is bottomless is, obviously, ridiculous but it's apparently quite deep
It is also home to the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos - that is very worthwhile
Earlier in this trip, we visited the ruins of Akrotiri, (see above) an outpost of the Minoan civilisation that evolved and flourished for nearly two millennia, between 3000 and 1100 BCE. Crete was the principal centre of this civilisation
Thus Crete possessed perhaps, the most advanced society humans had yet evolved, based on their mastery of kiln fired pottery, the essential pre-cursor to the metallic furnace with temperatures high enough to melt: tin (232o C); bronze (913o C) silver (979o C); gold(1063o C); and copper (1084o C). You can see some 4,000-year-old cast bronze axe heads in the photo above.
Although cast iron was being manufactured in China in the 5th century BCE and poured into molds to make ploughshares and pots as well as weapons and pagodas, it was not until Chinese blast furnace technology came west, probably thanks to the Muslim traders and the silk road, that temperatures sufficiently high to melt iron (1127 – 1204o C) became possible in Europe.
In Europe, for another fifteen-hundred years, ironmaking still employed a Bloomery.
This slowly reduced the ore, using carbon monoxide, into soft sponge-iron, that was then forged into shape.
My photograph from National Museum of China - 2018
It would not be until the Enlightenment, beginning at the end of 17th century BCE, that technology became divorced from religion and rapid advances began to be to be made. Not just in metallurgy but notably in medicine, chemistry and electricity. No longer would a god (or gods) be the explanation for world events and processes and thus: the success; or failure; or continuation; of a physical process. Vulcan and his fellow imaginary gods were out; testable evidence was in.
Unshackled from superstition, scientific progress leapt ahead. For example, the Eiffel Tower (completed in1889) is wrought iron (made in a puddling furnace) just 50 years later that was old-hat. The new railways needed steel so, soon the 19th century Bessemer and puddling processes would be superseded by open-hearth steelmaking so that 20th century structures, like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Empire State Building, became possible. As metallurgy became increasingly scientific (it was historically an arcane craft handed down from master to apprentice) progress became rapid and the list of previously impossible metals like: aluminium; titanium and tungsten became commonplace. Human capabilities expanded. Soon we could fly around the world and visit the moon.
In the 21st century new materials are added to our civilisation daily. Now, thanks to rockets and satellites, we can make video calls to our family in Germany or France for next to no cost. All civilisation is based on how their people harness technology, from metallurgy to agriculture.
It was upon their knowledge of seafaring, ceramics and metallurgy that Minoan civilisation was built. Yet, shackled to progress-resisting-traditions advances were slow. So, after persisting for well over a thousand years, it was a failure to keep up with developments in technology that contributed to that civilisation's demise. Around 1000 BCE under new gods, Crete was conquered by the Mycenaean Greeks who ruled briefly, until themselves engulphed by the chaos of the 'Postpalatial Bronze Age' (Early Iron Age).
In due course, as already discussed above, the more innovative Romans would prevail in Greece and Crete, as elsewhere in the Mediterranean. They would evolve, in the Common Era, into Byzantines, before their trinitarian God would become one again, under the Ottomans, before returning to power in the 19th century.
Kritsa
Before the steam engine came the water-wheel and in the absence of a river, the wind-mill. On our way back to Schisma Eloundas we stopped at the pretty town of Kritsa that, mysteriously, has the remains of a grain-mill in the town square and quite nice milkshakes.
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Stripped down windmill at Kritsa Village, Crete and milkshake hoff.
The Palace of Knossos
The Palace of Knossos on once mighty Crete the principal centre of the Minoan civilisation circa 1700 BCE long before the rise of Greece, then the Romans and then the Christians.
The ruins were excavated by Arthur Evans in the 1920s and 30's who undertook to reconstruct elements of the Palace. This is not kosher but has proven hugely popular. Hence the colourful pillars, based on frescoes actually found. Reconstruction does make it more interesting as the crowds attest.
This is my second visit here. I notice that several painted features are undimmed from my earlier photographs nearly 40 years ago. So, some repainting must be going on. And the walkways are new.
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The Palace of Knossos c 1700 BCE
The ruins were excavated by Arthur Evans in the 1920's and 1930's who reconstructed elements of the Palace to recall its glory.
Heraklion Archaeological Museum
This is not in chronological order. I came here on our last day in Crete. Yet, the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, contains many of the treasures found at Knossos. So, I've bought those pictures forward.
The museum is mostly about the Minoans but has Roman and Greek objects too. It displays amazing metallurgy. And intricate craft skills. Mostly over 3,000 years old.
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Heraklion Archaeological Museum has a model of the Palace of Knossos and many objects found in the ruins there
including seals and records made in Linear A script - see the box above, in Santorini
Click on a photo to see more in the album
Rethimno
After quite a long drive that included a very nice lunch at a restaurant, found by serendipity, at Gazi, we reached our next hotel in Rethimno. The most obvious feature of the Rethimno is the huge Venetian fortress commanding the seashore. It once contained many structures but is now largely empty: piles of rubble and rough grass and trees. Yet the defensive walls are in tact.
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Venetian Fortezza Castle Rethimno
This is an historic area. This building below was a church in the Venetian period then a mosque in the Ottoman period and now back to being Christian - yet the Minarette remains.
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Rethimno, Crete
The Rethimno museum of Anthropology is relatively small but contains some very interesting objects including Minoan clay pipes; storage vessels; cast bronze cookware; and seals (in Linear A) It sets out the progression of local history from the Paleolithic, Minoan, Hellenistic, Roman, Venetian, Ottoman; to the modern.
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The Rethimno museum of Anthropology sets out the progression of local history
from the Paleolithic, Minoan, Hellenistic, Roman, Venetian, Ottoman; to the modern.
Click on a photo to see more in the album
Chania
After Rethimno we continued west to Chania, an hour's drive along picturesque coastal clifftops.
As google tells us: Chania is known for its 14th-century Venetian harbor, narrow streets and waterfront restaurants. At the harbor entrance is a 16th-century lighthouse with Venetian, Egyptian and Ottoman influences.
We had accommodation in the old town, that is closed to traffic. We had a short walk up from the nearest parking area but after an initial lucky find we left town for a day trip and then had to park some distance away.
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Our accommodation was in the old town - adequate and well located
With Chania as our base, the following day we drove over winding, mountainous roads, to the resort town of Palaiochora, on the south coast, passing through several towns, some no more than one or two roadside buildings.
Voukolies
More substantial than most was Voukolies, where the traditional Greek separation of the sexes was in evidence: several coffee shops populated entirely by men, while the women supervised the children playing in the park.
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Voukolies - Crete
Kandanos
This changed when we got to Kandanos, where the coffee shop proprietor was an Australian woman from Melbourne, who married a Greek man she met while on holiday here. Two adult sons assist her. The town has an interesting history. In ancient times a Roman mining town, it was a centre of resistance during WW2 and was razed by the Germans, in retaliation for the killing of 25 German soldiers - 'never to be rebuilt'. Needless to say, it was promptly rebuilt, upon Germany's defeat. The large church, in particular.
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Kandanos - razed to the ground during WW2 - 'never to be rebuilt' - yet here it is
An interesting story: Read more...
Palaiochora
In Palaiochora evidence of Minoan occupation is slight but the ruins of a Venetian fortress dominate the point.
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Palaiochora
Again, it fell to the Ottomans. But most recently was used by the Germans during WW2, after the battle of Crete See: History.
Back in Chania
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The view from our dinner table that night and the following morning, May 26,
celebrating the Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy of the Resurrection, and remembering the Battle of Crete - in the rain.
It was fine again by midday.
Archaeological Museum of Chania
The Archaeological Museum of Chania is in the historic suburb of Chalepa, housed in a modern 'iconic building constituting a landmark for the whole city'... 'presenting the wealth of archaeological material that has been retrieved from the periphery of Chania through the course of time'.
It is indeed a fine, modern museum, a 35min walk from the old town (not unequivocally recommended). The cafeteria has a great view, looking back the way we walked.
Again, it maps the local history, from the Minoan to Mycenae/Greek; the Roman/Byzantine; to Venetian and Turkish/Ottoman; and back to Christian.
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The Archaeological Museum of Chania
Among the objects are Minoan seals (previously mentioned) and Roman glassware
Click on the images to see more of the collection
Nearby there are the remains of a two storey Minoan house 220sq metres on the ground floor. With plumbing, or was it claying? They were masters of terracotta. Of course, by then they also smelted gold, lead and bronze/copper/tin but not iron, that requires much higher temperatures than they could achieve. Copper ore is found on Crete but the other ores must have been traded. Currency had not yet been invented, so they had an elaborate barter system, involving clay seals to establish value. As I mentioned earlier, writing was in Linear A, script as yet undecipherable. But AI might do it.
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There was a big swell on our last morning in Chania with a full surf beyond the lighthouse. |
Heraklion
In Heraklion and I visited the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, as described above after Knossos, while Wendy explored downtown.
The following day we returned the car and flew to Thessaloniki (Thessalonica).
Thessalonica is known for Alexander the Great and his sister. Subsequently the Roman general, Pompey the Great, was based here, during his civil war with Julius Caesar. Cleopatra and all that. Pompey was assassinated in Egypt.
It became an important Byzantine city before falling to the Ottomans, where it became the Empire's second largest city. Thus, it's also famous as the birth place of Kemal Atatürk. There are still many remnants of the Ottoman Empire around town. Alexander is less evident. But it's all Greek now.
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Ottoman remnants - generally dilapidated
Our last full day in Greece. In comparison the islands, Thessaloniki is rather mundane; and the poor state of the Greek economy doesn't help. It's not high on our 'must return' list. The food was good though and a local pub had Guinness.
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A stroll to Aristotelous Square and the Ladadika area followed by
our last evening meal in Greece. Ending, as we began, with moussaka and retsina.
No hat on the table in this photo.
On our long day to Plovdiv, in Bulgaria, from Thessalonica, we got a cab to the bus station; a bus to Sophia; another cab; to get a rental car (at the airport) an airport shuttle; and so to a long drive, in a gutless little car, to our hotel.
Without our prompting the cab driver in Thessalonica launched into an attack on the illegitimate North Macedonia for usurping Alexander the Great. I didn't argue. But it was a subject that came up when we were there. It was all Macedonia back then. Alexander was born 25k inside modern Greece.
To learn about fascinating Bulgaria, Click here...