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Monday, 10 April. We came down early for breakfast and checked with the hotel clerk about our Knossos tour reservations. He said he’d been unable to get through to the tour company but he expected to do so soon. We figured the hotel must book these tours nearly every day, so we weren’t too worried. However, when he still hadn’t got through when we finished eating, we worried a lot. It was already 08:00 and the pick-up time was 08:30. I looked in the phone book under travel agencies and saw that one called Samothraki was located just across the park from our hotel. I thought a travel agent might have a special number to call the tour company, avoiding the problem our hotel clerk was having getting through. So I called the Samothraki office. The man who answered explained in poor English that he would phone the owner and have him at the office in a few minutes. I ran across the park and got to the office just as Mr. Samothraki arrived. Mr. Samothraki tried several times to phone the tour company, but he couldn’t get through either. Finally he said that, for the same price as the bus tour, he would take us to Knossos himself in a taxi. I accepted this generous offer, though with some suspicion that there must be a catch. I ran back to the hotel and was still telling Jane what was happening when Mr. Samothraki arrived in a taxi. It took us only a few minutes to get to Knossos. It was just past 08:30, and we were the day’s first visitors.
The first settlement on this site was some time before 7000 B.C., and the first grand palace was built about 2000 B.C. by a people later called the Minoans. Theirs was probably the first civilization in Europe. The original palace was completely destroyed by an earthquake around 1700 B.C. The palace whose ruins we now see was then built. In the 15th century B.C., Greeks from the mainland conquered Crete and took over the palace of Knossos. A century later, the palace was abandoned after being destroyed by fire.
Although he was not the first to explore the site, Arthur Evans began the systematic excavation of the palace in 1900. He has been criticized for his “reconstruction” of parts of the palace according to his conception of what they probably looked like. We can only say that his reconstructions give the palace an appeal that would be lacking if only foundations and rubble could be seen.
Mr. Samothraki led us into the site. He gave us some of the history of the Minoans and their palaces. (There are three others besides the one at Knossos.) He pretty much let us explore on our own, following and explaining what we were looking at. Although I had studied the Minoan civilization and read a lot about Knossos, Mr. Samothraki provided a wealth of additional information and details.
We must have been at the site for at least 45 minutes before a few other tourists showed up. It was wonderful to have the place entirely to ourselves for so long. As we were walking to the taxi to leave about 10:00, the first tour bus was arriving. Mr. Samothraki had the taxi take us to the Archeological Museum in Iraklion and bought our tickets, a bonus we had not expected. He explained that the bus tour would have taken us there, too.
The Museum contains the original frescos from Knossos (the ones at the site were reproductions), as well as thousands of artifacts found at the site. Again Mr. Samothraki let us explore largely on our own, pointing out and explaining various exhibits of particular interest. He made no effort to rush us, and we certainly must have stayed much longer than the bus tour would have allowed. There was so much to see, though, that we were overwhelmed. After the frescos, the more interesting items included faience figurines of the Snake Goddess and a drinking cup (rhyton) in the shape of a bull's head.
I was fascinated by a clay disk (17th century B.C.) from the
Palace of Phaistos and bought a replica. On
leaving the Museum, Mr. Samothraki invited us to stop at his office for tea, and we accepted.
While we sipped the tea, he brought out a series of scrapbooks with newspaper articles,
photographs, and complimentary letters from some of his more famous clients, including King
Farouk of Egypt, Jacqueline Kennedy, and scores of high-level dignitaries and
generals and admirals
from various countries. We’d had no idea that we had engaged one of the most sought-after
guides to Knossos. I had already been debating whether to tip Mr. Samothraki, since he was the owner of the travel agency, not an employee. We couldn’t imagine that he had made much profit from our business after paying for three taxi rides and the entrance tickets at Knossos and the museum. But now, having accepted his hospitality and learned of his prominence, it seemed that offering a tip would be especially inappropriate. Yet, we didn’t want to seem unappreciative or cheap either. In the end, we paid him exactly what the bus tour would have cost, as had been agreed in advance. We did buy our ferry tickets from him, perhaps giving him some slight profit on our business. Leaving his office, we walked across the park to our hotel, packed, and checked out. We were able to check our luggage at the ferry terminal, leaving us free to have lunch and explore central Iraklion on foot. We boarded the ferry about 17:00, and it sailed for Piraeus an hour or two later. As on the ferry to Rhodes, we had booked a cabin, but this time we knew enough to go to it. We spent a little time on deck before the sun set, but it was a bit chilly. We had a decent dinner in the dining room and retired to our tiny cabin.
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