I am accustomed to cruising to a destination overnight, exploring most of the day, being back on the ship in time for dinner at 6pm and enjoying some entertainment before retiring.
These people are wearing us out! We meet to disembark at 7:00am, drive to our destination, explore, drive back to the ship, grab lunch at a buffet, sail to another island, meet to disembark, explore, return to the ship, eat supper at 9:00pm and then collapse in the bed.
Tomorrow morning we return to Athens and immediately start sightseeing.
With that being said, our two destinations today were an archaeological site in Heraklion, Crete and the beautiful Mediterranean town of Oia, Santorini.
Paul wrote a letter to Titus, who was on Crete, giving him directions about how to continue building up the church there. It was a tall order but Paul was confident in his ability to do it.
“To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
Titus 1:4-9 NIV
Crete is the largest of the Greek islands. Scientists have found evidence of civilizations here dating back to 8000 BC.
What?
We walked through the ruins of the Knossos Palace today which has sections dating back to 1500 BC. Crazy!
Minos A. Kalokairinos (1843-1907) was the first to “uncover” the Knossos ruins. Because there was no written documentation of the name of the people group represented, they became known as Minoans after this gentleman.
Sir Arthur Evans furthered the efforts of his predecessor but he was highly criticized for one of his decisions. After many parts of the palace had been recovered, he began the painstaking task of reproducing each piece and putting all of them back in their proper places. The original structure had incorporated a lot of wood in between the boulders. But Evans felt that wood would deteriorate over a fairly short period of time so he used concrete. And that’s the controversy.
This is a good example of the wood substitute — concrete. The broken part shows that it is, indeed, concrete, but the smooth, painted beams look very much like wood. Brilliant!
There is evidence through ancient art that the beams were painted white, red or black. Here you can see the beams and doorways painted white.
Evidence indicates that the palace had at least 5 floors. The main entrance would have been level with the street and some of the floors followed the mountainside down toward the valley.
Above these two doors was a beautiful fresco reproduction of 3 dolphins. 10 days ago it fell from the wall. Today was the first day the room had been re-opened for viewing. They are now in the process of repairing the reproduction.
No palace would be complete without a home theater. This one would seat 400.
Here is a historical timeline for Crete this side of Christ’s life.
- 65 AD Paul wrote his letter to Titus.
- 824 conquered by the Arabs
- 961 Byzantine rule
- 1200-1600s Venetian rule
- 1648 Turkish rule
- 1669 Ottoman rule
- 1898-1913 Cretan rule
- 1800s earthquake
- 1913 Grecian unification
- 1940s WW II devastation
At the city center we found an ancient church which is now a museum. To the left is an ice cream shop. To the right is a dentist’s office.
The architecture in this entire part of the world is an interesting blend of ancient and modern standing side by side.
For an account of our excursion to Oia, Santorini, see my FaceBook page @ patience.fort
LORD, Thank you for this glimpse of the past. May we be encouragers and peacemakers. May we learn your Scripture and refute those who oppose it. May our hearts be influenced by your Spirit so that we reflect your goodness and love with self-control and kindness. Amen.
Thanks for sharing these pictures and facts.
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