Crete, Greece

Being “gluttons for punishment” we had signed up for an 8 hour excursion entitled The

Essence of Crete, so had our breakfast and headed out. The first part of the excursion was

a visit to Knossos, the ancient capital of King Minos and the basis for the legend of the

Minotaur and the maze. Sometimes it is hard to separate Greek mythology from Greek history.

 The bus trip was over an hour to get there and then we found out that every tour from every

 ship or land tour goes to Knossos, so it was pretty crowded. The excavations started in

1900 and they have been doing a lot of restoration which means that some walls have been

 reconstructed, etc.

The palace alone covers 200,000 square feet and there are up to 5

levels in some parts. Until you see a drawing of what they think it looked like, it is

 hard to visualize it yourself. Rob took pictures of these drawings so that you can see as

 well. There were some wall paintings, but not quite as impressive as the ones we had seen

 in the museum on Santorini. After spending about 1 ½ hours climbing up and down and

listening to the guide, we headed back on the bus to a small village near the capital of

Crete where we could see how people still live. We had raki, a drink with a 35% alcohol

level, in someone's home and visited a distillery (very basic machinery). We saw 2 guys who

are the last to make sheep bells by hand. Then we had a lunch cooked by the women of the

 village and served by the men, sitting outside at a community building. Again we had Greek

 salad and a number of appetizers with a main course of about ½ chicken with potatoes and

then fruit for desert.

We wanted to make sure we got back to the ship in time for the Oceania Club reception. This

is for people who are frequent cruisers. We received our bronze pin for our 5th cruise, but

the real champs were a couple with 21 cruises and another with 46 cruises. Oceania has only

 been around for 9 years, so those folks must have been on all the cruise itineraries by

now. When they announced the 46 cruises, someone in the group yelled “get a life.” You get

 various perks depending on what level you are- like cabin credit which can be used to

 offset any expenses you have such as Internet usage or wine at dinner. Our friends were

 on their 9th, as they go to the Caribbean every Spring, just to get away. I guess that

from now on they will mention us at this reception. Because this was an inaugural cruise,

 there were lots of opportunities to have drinks for free – the Captain's receptions which

 were for everyone and the Oceania Club deal among them.

Here's how the Slide Show works:

  Click on the thumbnail pics that appear in a row above the enlarged pic (the 
  first thumbnail). Click on each of the 
thumbnails and the enlarged version 
  will appear below. 


  After you've looked at the 4 thumbnails, click on the right arrow 4 times, 
  bringing up 4 new thumbnails and then click on each 
of the thumbnails and the 
  enlarged version will appear below. 


  Then click on the right arrow 4 times, bringing up 4 new thumbnails and click on each of the thumbnails and the 
enlarged version will appear below. 
  And so on.........