Breiner on the road: Greece Part 3: Tourist town, Crete, Minoan palace

Luxury yachts and tourist ferries fill the harbor at Nafplio.

Most people come to the seaside tourist town of Nafplio for the shops, restaurants, and beaches. Some geeks like us come to walk among the ruins of Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon. He was the king who, according to legend, led the Greek expedition against Troy, which Homer recounted in his epic poem the"Iliad."

Nafplio lies west of Athens on the Peloponnesian peninsula

The story of Troy had its roots in history. Archeologists have discovered extensive evidence of a the siege and sack of a great city near the strategic Strait of the Dardanelles in what is now Turkey. Their finds give credence to details in the epic tale. They have dated Troy's destruction to around 1750 B.C. (If there was Trojan horse, it wouldn't have survived. It was made of wood.)

It probably wasn't the mythical kidnapping of the beautiful Helen by the Trojan prince Paris "that launched a thousand ships" from Mycenae (Christopher Marlowe, "Doctor Faustus"). The real-world cause was probably about control of lucrative trade routes between Greece in the West and the Dardenelles in the East.

Nearby our tourist hotel lay the ruins of the Mycenaean Empire's palace and citadel. We wanted to soak up some of the history of the Trojan War.

Above, the Lion Gate at the entrance to Mycenae’s citadel near Nafplio. It was the rich and powerful Mycenaean Empire that challenged Troy for control of the Dardanelles trade route.

Inside the Citadel was a tholos tomb, with its characteristic beehive shape and dome vault.

Above: The wall to the right has been called the Cyclops wall because the blocks of stone were so massive that they were thought in later ages to be the work of the one-eyed giants known as the Cyclopes. The palace and citadel were destroyed, possibly by invaders or a natural disaster -- an earthquake or massive volcanic eruption.

Like layers of an onion

Again and again we were reminded of Greece's role as the cradle of Western Civilization. So much of the past 5,000 years of history is all around you, still standing or restored.

Every new civilization tries to bury the old. Yet we're discovering more of them all the time in all corners of the world. We saw this pattern of growth and destruction again on the island of Crete.

"History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake," said a character in James Joyce's 1922 novel "Ulysses."Joyce structured his characters' one day of wanderings in Dublin on the epic 10-year odyssey of the hero in Homer's epic poem.

On to Crete

After returning to Athens we boarded a plane for a short flight to the island of Crete. I was very excited to come here because of all I had read about the Minoan civilization, the Minotaur, and the cult of the bull. But more on that in a moment.

Our first stop on Crete was Chania. Its lighthouse (behind Cindy, above) was originally a naval post created by the Venetians around 1600. It was damaged and rebuilt several times, including during World War II. It was refurbished in 2006.

Next stop was the town of Agia Roumeli.

In the harbor at Agia Roumeli, we saw this breakwall made up of tetrapods. They are similar to ones used along the Cleveland lakefront to halt erosion.

A hike

Some of the younger folks in our group decided to hike up through the Samaria Gorge. It was a little too steep for us, so we decided to skip it.

We opted for a less challenging hike along the shore.

Above: The twisted, gnarled, and shrub-like plants we saw are possibly Mediterranean thyme or spiky burnet, according to the Perplexity.ai tool. Maybe you have some better ideas?

Above, we passed by a number of abandoned stone dwellings or animal enclosures. Farming has given way to tourism on the island. The structures were left to decay. Some people had set up tents among the ruins. Technically, it's illegal. Were they campers or squatters?

A ferry to a resort village

On the ferry ride to Loutro, the clear water reflected the blue sky to create this brilliant natural color. No filters or photoshop needed.

Above, the village of Loutro. Swimming here was wonderful.

Above, on one of the hiking trails from Loutro, we saw lots of these flowering plants. My app told me they were Trillium numidica, native to Africa. They like to keep their distance from each other.

The rugged shoreline. We saw sheep and goats foraging in this rocky terrain.

Tiny goats climbed on the near-vertical cliffs above us to feed on the plants sprouting from the rock. Here is the skeleton of one that maybe lost its footing. A warning to us to be careful.

We found our walking sticks helped us keep our balance on the uneven terrain.

The Palace of Minos at Knossos

Above, this fresco depicts a young woman leaping over the horns of a bull onto its back. It was recovered from the archeological site of the Palace of Knossos. (Public domain photo by Gleb Simonov.)

I was keen to see the site of the Palace of Minos, the legendary king of Crete. The Minoans were once the dominant civilization in the Aegean region. I had seen images of the palace, its frescoes, statuary, and stunning red columns in various history books. As a reminder of how ancient history is alive in Greece today, we stayed at a hotel in Heraklion, named for Heracles, the mythical hero we know as Hercules. It's a short ride from there to Knossos.

Minoan art, like the fresco above, celebrated the power, fluidity, and fertility of the bull. Knossos was a center of the Mediterranean cult of the bull that continued right up to our own century. Ernest Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" celebrated the bullfight in Spain as "a tragedy in three acts." These days, however, bullfighting there is on its last gasp. Much of society views it as a cruel commercial spectacle.

Above, we saw this fresco of a bull and an olive tree but wondered if it was original or a reproduction.

Our guide at Knossos reminded us repeatedly that the arqueological excavation of Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans, beginning in 1900, was controversial. He apparently was sometimes reckless in his digging methods and inaccurate in his restoration work.

The name of our guide at Knossos, above, was appropriate for her profession as an expert on Greek history: Athena.

In Homer's "Odyssey," the warrior goddess is often referred to as "the grey-eyed Athena." But our guide's eyes were hidden behind her shades.

Another view of the palace.

I wondered what happened to this great civilization. At first it was the Minoan culture that influenced the Mycenaeans, who lived on mainland Greece. Later it was the Mycenaeans who conquered all of Crete and took control of Knossos. The Minoans were weakened by the catastrophic volcanic eruption that took place on the island of Thera (today it's called Santorini), around 1600 B.C. It caused destructive earthquakes, tsunamis, and crop failures.