Knossos or not Knossos

Wednesday, Aug. 14

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary! Good for us :)

We wake up early and head down for breakfast. Sadly breakfast is served on a split level down a flight of stairs, so two harried waiters have to drop everything and lift me down in the chair, which by itself weighs a ton - which they do in the nicest way possible. After breakfast the same two men have to lift me up the stairs. I apologize profusely and one, now very sweaty and red in the face, says, "This is no problem, Madam, you weigh like feather."Ha-ha, so sweet.

Our porter gets us all settled in the car outside - he had refused a tip yesterday and Oswaldo had inquired at the reception if this was a local custom. They had said just to insist, so this time Oswaldo smiles and says, "Buy some flowers for your wife,"as he stuffs 10 euros into his pocket - and then we all laugh. We head out for nearby Knossos - the reason we chose to include Crete on our trip - we wanted to see the famed labyrinth. We are shocked when we see the meandering line of scalded tourists waiting to be let in, and have to dodge the huge buses maneuvering on the narrow street.

Across from the excavated site, which we can glimpse more or less from the car, is a dense row of souvenir stalls.

We drive past it all, think for a moment, and then decide, no, this is not for us. We wouldn't even know where to start. It's like going to Corcovado on a bad day. Later we will hear that 3 cruise ships had arrived unexpectedly that morning.

So that's disappointing, but we get over it and head for the National Archaeological Museum, where Oswaldo, with his parking karma, immediately finds a spot where we can park all day for 4 euros. At the entrance to the museum someone hands us a flier asking for support to prevent lay-offs in the cultural sector. Apparently the museum have faced drastic cuts - an odd decision when the whole country seems to be geared towards tourism.

The exhibit, which largely consists of pieces excavated from Knossos,  is small and precious - we take many pictures - and we're happy to have seen it. The midday sun is unbelievably fierce, and this is certainly a more comfortable way to see at least some of the treasures, even if we did miss the actual site.

Out on the street again, with explanations from the girl in the museum shop, we head towards a walking street. Oswaldo whizzes me by the many shops on sale and I get cranky. I want to stop and see! But most shops have steps leading to the interior, so nothing doing anyway. We're hot and tired by now, what with Oswaldo wearing sneakers (for good grip) and gloves. It's time for a break and we find a nice pavement restaurant where we share a pizza and have a beer.

Thus refreshed we push on to the National Historical museum, which has many interesting things on show. A large model of the city as it was in the 16th century, many icons, and a moving display - with photos, blocks of text, and some artifacts - which explains the heroic behavior of the Cretans during WW2. There's also the actual study, where Crete's most famous author, Nikos Kazantzakis, worked, along with shelves of his published works.

He was born in Heraklion and wrote Zorba the Greek. We finally reach the folklore exhibition, which I have been looking forward to, only to find it lies at the top of a long flight of stairs. So Oswaldo is dispatched with the camera and takes pictures of every single display.

We have an expresso frappé in the museum, something that they do really well here, and then head back to the car, which we find without too much difficulty.

Initially we had plans to eat out, but decide to eat in the hotel. We have an early start tomorrow to catch the ferry to Santorini. We rest, chat to Victor, look at his wonderful YouTube present (a GoPro recording of the Newton Rezende show, done with his usual flair and good humor <3). After that we go down to have our meal at the poolside restaurant, where it turns out there is a singer. Just one hitch: the restaurant is at the top of a long flight of curved stairs. And this is when I can't take it anymore. I do not want to be carried one more time! There are tears and everybody is rattled, including a very kind manager, Manolis, who also carried me in the morning, "Why you cry? Important to have good health and to have heart,"he exclaims, kissing my hand. He settles us on a balcony overlooking the pool, where we can hear the singer,  and a vodka martini is put in my hand. Then I'm good to go again and we have an amazingly good meal - mine a deliciously humid risotto with shrimp and green asparagus, and Oswaldo Ravioli with a creamy cheese and tomato sauce. The tomatoes here are fabulous: bright red and sun ripened with such a rich flavor.

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