The legendary Palace of Minos Knossos, Crete, Greece
The Palace of Knossos in Crete, Greece.
I cannot explain why, but whenever I visit places associated with the birth of the gods—as I had felt in Delos—I am overcome by an irresistible urge to dance. Sitting on a low stone wall at the Palace of Knossos, I almost gave in to the impulse before my attention was caught by a gentleman in a beige linen suit and straw hat, looking remarkably like Hercule Poirot.
He stood beneath the famous red columns at the northern entrance, staring intently through a metal grating in the ground, one arm stretched inside as though searching for buried treasure.
Curiosity got the better of me.
"Have you found something?" I asked.
Without taking his eyes off the opening, he smiled.
"My glasses have fallen in, and without them I can barely see."
My wrist was slimmer than his, so I offered to try. After a little effort I managed to retrieve them. Once they were safely back on his nose, he looked at me with obvious relief.
"And here I was thinking you might be a Scottish lass," he laughed. "Or perhaps Irish?"
We soon discovered that we shared a fascination with Minoan civilisation and, above all, with Sir Arthur Evans.
Many criticise Evans for reconstructing Knossos rather too enthusiastically, my new companion remarked. Yet, without his vision, visitors would struggle to imagine the palace as anything more than scattered foundations. I found myself agreeing. Whatever the controversies surrounding his methods, Evans had transformed ruins into a place that could still be experienced rather than merely observed.
The restoration of the Palace of Knossos began almost immediately after its excavation by Arthur Evans between 1900 and 1930.
As we wandered through the restored staircases and colonnades, we spoke about Evans's extraordinary determination. Arriving in Crete in 1894, while the island was still under Ottoman rule, he had become captivated by stories of a lost palace hidden beneath the earth. After lengthy negotiations, he bought the site himself and began excavating in 1900, employing both Christian and Muslim workers.
Only weeks later, the palace began to emerge.
"He knew he had uncovered an entirely unknown civilisation," my companion said. "One that flourished more than fifteen centuries before Classical Greece."
The discoveries astonished Europe. Running water, drainage systems, elegant frescoes and sophisticated architecture revealed a culture that was far ahead of its time. Evans named its people the Minoans, after the legendary King Minos.
The Throne Room at the Palace of Knossos, 15th century BC.
We had reached the Throne Room, whose simplicity had made such an impression on me when I was eight years old, and I gazed around, enchanted once more, at the beautiful depictions of griffins on the murals.
“The ruins were found after just a few weeks' digging. He was lucky,” my Scotsman companion said, and I immediately thought he probably knew Evans' story better than that of the English kings. “He marvelled at everything he found...just imagine...a fantastically evolved civilization when the rest of Europe was still living in caves. And, if the truth be told, not even Londoners of Evans' time had toilets and running water in their homes. He eagerly announced that he had discovered a completely unknown world of 1,500 years before classical Greece, and he needed a name for these ancient Europeans, so he named them Minoans, after King Minos.”
The Queen’s Room at the Palace of Knossos, featuring the famous dolphin fresco.
So absorbed were we in discussing Knossos that I completely lost track of time.
When I finally glanced at my watch, my heart skipped a beat.
The cruise ship was due to sail in less than an hour.
For a brief moment, the ancient labyrinth of King Minos no longer seemed the greatest challenge. Finding my way back to the harbour in time suddenly felt like an adventure worthy of the myths themselves.
For a brief moment, the ancient labyrinth of King Minos no longer seemed the greatest challenge. Finding my way back to the harbour in time suddenly felt like an adventure worthy of the myths themselves.
I travel in search of places where antiquity still feels alive — among forgotten palaces and landscapes shaped by myth.
This is an excerpt from a wonderful sojourn in Crete, recounted in my book GREECE, The Dance of the Seas
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