Knossos (Greece –
Island of Crete): Visiting the Minoan
Palace and the Toplou Monastery with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
We
set out for the Minoan Palace ruins, Heraklion Archaeological Museum, and the
Toplou Monastery on the weekend. Even my
husband Laurent was getting tired of going to the beach all the time now.
You
could walk around the Minoan Palace at Knossos unlike the Acropolis and
Erectheon in Athens. Knossos with its
vermillion red painting was beautiful and maybe too well preserved.
Knossos
was an ancient civilization that existed between 1700 BC and 1400 BC. The society was said to be matriarchal.
The
paintings of soaring blue dolphins and dancers jumping over charging bulls
delighted me. (These paintings are
copies. The real ones are in the Archaeological
Museum in Heraklion.)
Our
next stop was the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, the most famous work of
art in the museum in addition to the dolphin paintings and bull dancer
paintings is a statuette of a goddess wielding coiling snakes in both of her
hands.
The
next day was beach filled and palm tree filled.
We went to the beach at Vai and admired the largest grove of palm trees
in Europe. Was this a permanent coconut milk source for cocktails I wondered.
I
read books under a beach parasol on a comfy chaise lounge until my husband
Laurent got his chestnut-colored suntan.
He put on his Ray-Bans, and we walked back to the car to do some
cultural tourism.
We
stopped at the Toplou Monastery on the way home. It was built of stone, had yellow doorframes,
and planters full of what seemed to be lemon trees.
Very
few tourists were there. I felt
privileged to see the interior courtyard of a monastery, view the dining area
and kitchen, and visit the chapel and library.
Back
in Heraklion, I went out shopping for books.
I just bought one, but it was a great geeky read called Modern
Greece: A Short History by C. M.
Wodehouse.
By
Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
 |
| Ruth Paget Selfie |
