Once you've seen one spectacular view from the top of a mountain, you've seen them all - Crete pt. 2

Wednesday started early with a visit to Phaestos, the site of another palatial complex. Phaestos had far less reconstruction than Knossos, which left more room to the imagination as far as what it might have looked like originally (an approach that I think I liked better, in many respects). Plus the view of the mountains and the valleys at daybreak was incredible. Phaestos is also where archaeologists found a round piece of stone with symbols, known as the Phaesotos disc, which is one of the earliest pieces of evidence of a written language. Consequently, the gift shop at the site is chock full of replicas that can be used as coasters or paper weights. I couldn't resist...

We got back on the bus and went to Kommos, which is an even smaller site by the sea. This site is believed to have been some kind of villa, as opposed to the major palace sites we had seen earlier. The differences in size were very apparent, and I can't imagine how a normal-sized person would fit in some of the rooms.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach in Matala, which was a very picturesque/touristy beach town. The water was clear and blue, as usual, and some of my more adventurous friends swam out to the cliffs, which were full of old caves. That night we stayed at a cute hotel that was surrounded by mountains and had pomegranate trees. To eat a pomegranate, you throw it on the ground to break the skin, and then you can get to the seeds. Delicious and full of anti-oxidants!



The view from Phaestos


Another view from Phaestos...


I unfortunately didn't take such good pictures of the site at Phaestos, but here's the best one...


The ruins at Kommos - note the sea in the background. Our professor said that archaeologists have a lot of trouble at sites like this because the sand keeps covering things up. Fun fact.