In the morning, I made my way by bus to the archaeological site of Knossos. Never in my life have I been more disappointed in a site as I was today. Knossos is a site of the Ancient Minoan civilization, who’s sculpture, building, and frescoes have been said to be well ahead of their time (1900-1450 BC). The remains on this site were of a Palatial town in that the center was composed of a the kings palace, while other dwellings were created adjacent to it. In the late 1800’s Sir Arthur Evans among others founded the site, and began excavations. As laws of archaeological sites changed in the 1920’s so did the teams mission on the site. With little funding, Evans funded a project that made many assumptions about the site by “rebuilding” what was there previously in an irreversible way. What I mean by this is that Evan’s team used “educated” assumptions about the site and began concrete construction on top of the existing ruins in order to allow visitors to “imagine” what the palace would have been like. He has painted columns and, laid concrete painted as though they have wood grain or geological properties similar to those on the site… The bottom line is, as it exists today there is very little anyone can do to return the site to the way it was before (as actual ruins) and study what it was rather than what it might have been. Also, it acts like a theme park at this point. I found myself laughing all the way through the site, less interested in the ruins, and more intrigued what a 20th century take on Minoan civilization looks like while tourists climb on the rocks to snap photos while being yelled at by the lifeguard-style officials stationed throughout the site. Knossos is an absolute tragedy and most tourists (because their guides blind them to the “liberties” Evans took on the site).
From the bus station at Rethymno, I hiked across town to my hotel, which was on the beachfront boulevard! I went out to the sites that I had intended to see, which weren’t all that many. My last stop was the Fortress on the coast. I spent a few hours there exploring and drawing the acropolis-style development, which had many different buildings to offer, including a mosque, a few churches, and some other military buildings. I stayed until sunset and snapped some photos of the posts located at the corners of the walls. At this point I was starving and decided to go to a restaurant that my guide book recommended (which is often how I do it) called Taverna Kyria Maria.
As I was ordering, a few kids (Marios and Nikolas) walked by noticing that I was touching up some of the drawings I was working on previously. The combination of their limited English and my limited to non-existent Greek didn’t help the situation, but I invited them to sit down as they looked through my sketchbook and got them lemonade. The waitress brought Marios a piece of paper and a pencil. He drew while I ate and then told me to draw the nearby fountain (it took all dinner for him to explain what he wanted). The waitress and the taverna owner had also come over to see my sketchbook and asked me to draw on back of one of their menus. I obliged and drew the fountain Marios wanted as both the kids sat by me and shooed people away from my view. The restaurant owner was very happy with my work and asked me to sign it. So, if you are ever in Rethymno (Crete), Greece, make sure to stop by this taverna and ask for my menu!
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