Fair Haven - Crete
Tuesday May 16, 2023
We got to Crete at midnight last night. After a couple hour nap, Craig and I went back to the airport early to rent a car and get down to Southern Crete, to Kaloi Limens, ahead of the group bus so Craig would have plenty of time to drone. All went well - prayers answered! Kaloi Limens is biblical Fair Havens where Paul’s guard and ship captain made the fateful decision to continue on to Rome even though the sailing season was over and the plan dangerous.
It was a beautiful drive through central Crete to get from Heraklion to the southern point of Fair Havens. not more than 35-40 miles, but hair pin twists and turns through the Crete mountains and the tiny villages.
The Bay is quaint. A bit marred by an island used as an oil depot out in the middle! On the hill above the Bay is a small white chapel dedicated to Paul and a grotto where tradition holds Paul spent the night. The book of Acts says that this wasn’t a place the captain or the guard wanted to over winter - likely because it was a Small settlement without ready supplies for ship.
While we were exploring the little chapel, a Greek man came up the hill on a three wheeler…. He seemed completely unconcerned about the drone and with gestures he conveyed that Paul walked up this hill and slept in the grotto.
Slight mishap with the car - got stuck in a little village in a narrow lane, had to back down and missed the fact that there was a cut tree on the ground. Front and back bumper damage. At rental car return the kind man said “lovely day with a difficult moment” well stated! We had bought the extra insurance so just a shrug and have a good day from the agency! Travel tip - ALWAYS get the extra insurance LOL.
After finishing at Fair Havens, we went to the archeological site of Gortnya. The city was mentioned by Homer and Strabo as a powerful and important city. There was a Jewish community here but the synagogue has not been found. Oldest archeological finds are from the Neolithic era (ober 3200 BC). The site is Most famous for the Gortnyan Law code that was inscribed on walls - some of which can still be seen - these walls become the back of the odion (theater style town counsel meeting place) in Roman times. There is a tradition of honoring Titus as the first Bishop of Crete ( later today we his skull at St Titus church in Heraklion). The site has the remains of a 6th century AD basilica of Titus built with Ashlar stones ( larger precisely finely cut blocks that fit together perfectly), Many other less excavated locations at this site (theater, temples, hippodrome ruins in fields) Unfortunately flying the drone was prohibited!
Weather was beautiful today - sunny and breezy! We stopped at Matala, a wonderful beach with hundreds of Roman graves tombs in the cliffs above. In the 60’s this became an enclave of American hippies. Things went well with the locals for a few years, but eventually got out of hand and the Greek police had to evict them. It is a tourist beach now and they try to maintain the hippy vibe.
The evening was spent walking the pedestrian streets of Heraklion - lots of people out in the plaza enjoying the evening. We stopped into the Titus cathedral here.
Really enjoyed the archeological museum! The focus is on the Crete Minoan civilization and their numerous palaces on the island. The old palaces date to 2000 BC and the “new” palaces to 1750 BC. This culture has unique pottery and pagan religious practices. Images of bulls were important to them, and there are depictions of bull leaping as a sort of sport. Several palaces were found amazingly intact with brightly colored frescos depicting their lives - probably their idealized (instagrammed) lives. Great museum.
Tomorrow we visit the most famous of these palaces, Knossos, then head for the airport - flight to Athens then overnight boat to Patmos where John was imprisoned and wrote his revelation.
