After a long (one-hour) drive, we reached Knossos Palace. Knossos Palace is the legendary home of the Minotaur and hot and dry. It was definitely a good thing to hire a guide, and she took us—along with our small English-speaking group—around the palace for an hour-and-a-half.

Anything wooden or painted was fake, placed by the archaeologist Arthur Evans. There is a bust of him at the entrance to the site.

There were five entrances to the palace: one each on the north, south, west, and east sides, and one on the northwest. Among other trivia, we learned that the first toilets were found in the palace. The queen had one in her room. She also had make-up tools, which we didn’t see (they were in a museum). Clay pipes carried water in to and out of the palace. There were forty rivers on Crete, our guide told us, and forests, too, but with the Turks and the Venetians came destruction. Now the forests are long gone. In their place are vineyards, olive groves, fields, and towns.

When our tour was over, we re-circled the site, this time allowing time for pictures. We stopped at the café on our way out and ordered overpriced drinks. This seemed like a lot to bear after the $10-per-gallon petrol earlier in the morning. (Suddenly, $4-per-gallon is looking pretty good.) Mom and Dad chose orange juice, and Ethan and I went for the Tooti Frootis, which had a delicious combination of pineapple, banana, orange, and apple juices (delicious especially since you couldn’t taste the apple).

On the way home we stopped in Heraklion and Mom, Ethan, and I looked at the cathedral, and I found a teal dress I really liked (but couldn’t buy).

Also on the way, we stopped for cherries, a dark chocolate bar, and chocolate-coated baklava at a mini market. In case you want to know, the chocolate-coated baklava is really, really, really good.

Ciao!