{"id":3629,"date":"2011-09-05T17:44:10","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T21:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3629"},"modified":"2018-08-04T21:11:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T01:11:46","slug":"saturday-september-4-2011-minoan-exiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3629","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, September 5, 2011 \u2014 Minoan Exiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The north shore of Crete, espe\u00adcial\u00adly around Mallia, is the most depress\u00ading part. While the land and seascapes are beau\u00adti\u00adful, the coast is stuffed with beach resorts over\u00adflow\u00ading with tacky tourist busi\u00adness, and seems to have been tak\u00aden over by the Russ\u00adian Mafia to sell furs. The signs of the immense fur empo\u00adria are always in Russ\u00adian, occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly in Eng\u00adlish, nev\u00ader in Greek. Why any\u00adone would come to Crete to buy a fur coat baf\u00adfles me. Wear\u00ading fur in this cli\u00admate would kill you. Thank\u00adful\u00adly, the bus took us well past this vul\u00adgar\u00adi\u00adty and we turned inland into the broad val\u00adley that forms the \u201cneck\u201d sep\u00ada\u00adrat\u00ading East Crete from the rest of the island.<\/p>\n

We were dropped off on an emp\u00adty stretch of road near our des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion, as we had request\u00aded. It was only a short walk along a dusty lit\u00adtle side road before we found a mark\u00ader for a trail that would lead us to the Valmi\u00adki Minoan site. The trail took us through some olive groves to a mound. The site was fenced off, and the gate locked with a rust\u00aded pad\u00adlock, but it was easy enough to crawl under the fence. With\u00adin, there was what remained of a small Minoan town. Quite unim\u00adpres\u00adsive, I know, after the spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar Knos\u00adsos. But here you could expe\u00adri\u00adence that delight\u00adful sense of mys\u00adtery that you get from a remote or neglect\u00aded archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal site that is not impres\u00adsive enough to please the tourist, but fills you with endor\u00adphins if you love history.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The endor\u00adphins were pump\u00ading fast in me, because the Minoan-ness of the ruins was evi\u00addent. There was the cen\u00adtral plaza, in minia\u00adture, and the same pat\u00adtern of small sanc\u00adtu\u00adar\u00adies, cells, pits and stor\u00adage rooms. There was no mis\u00adtak\u00ading this as a \u201cpalace.\u201d All the points I made in the last blog post applied to this lit\u00adtle site. Sur\u00adround\u00ading it was the same kind of irri\u00adgat\u00aded an ter\u00adraced agri\u00adcul\u00adture, though the val\u00adley was some\u00adwhat dri\u00ader and not as lush with veg\u00ade\u00adta\u00adtion. We didn\u2019t stay long, as there was not very much to see, but this lit\u00adtle mini-Knos\u00adsos was quite impor\u00adtant to me, and the expe\u00adri\u00adence had its own dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive texture.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

The plateau and gorge seen from the Valmi\u00adki site.<\/p><\/div>\n

Across the val\u00adley was the Gorge of Mona\u00ads\u00adti\u00adra\u00adki, near which was sup\u00adposed to be anoth\u00ader archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal site of inter\u00adest to me. How\u00adev\u00ader, I had only read a ver\u00adbal descrip\u00adtion of it in a reseach paper, and it was not clear exact\u00adly where it was, only that it must be on high ground and some\u00adwhere near the entrance to the gorge.<\/p>\n

The moun\u00adtains here form a long, high wall across the island, ris\u00ading steeply from near\u00adly sea lev\u00adel to a plateau about three thou\u00adsand feet high, and fur\u00adther in there peaks that go con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adably high\u00ader. This mas\u00adsif looms like the wall in The Game of Thrones<\/em> fan\u00adta\u00adsy series. Behind that wall is the land, it is thought, to which the Minoans fled who would not be con\u00adquered or assim\u00adi\u00adlat\u00aded by the invad\u00ading Myce\u00adnaeans. Cen\u00adturies lat\u00ader, there were still a peo\u00adple there referred to as the Eti\u00adoc\u00adre\u00adtans in Greek lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, speak\u00ading an unknown lan\u00adguage. These peo\u00adple are assumed to have been descen\u00addants of the Minoans. They may have sur\u00advived into Roman times.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

The Late Minoan fortress we stum\u00adbled onto near Monastiraki<\/p><\/div>\n

The loca\u00adtion of the canyon was in no doubt for us. It can be seen from almost any\u00adwhere in the val\u00adley. It\u2019s as if a giant axe descend\u00aded from the sky and cut a gash from top to bot\u00adtom of the moun\u00adtain wall. Only a fan\u00adta\u00adsy artist would invent a canyon so improb\u00ada\u00adbly dra\u00admat\u00adic. A bit to the south from the entrance is the vil\u00adlage of Monas\u00adtikiri. We could find no direct way to it from Valmi\u00adki, so we end\u00aded up fol\u00adlow\u00ading a twist\u00ading path through a few kilo\u00adme\u00adters of olive groves until we came to a ridge and a stair\u00adcase. This brought us up to small chapel, and then fur\u00adther up to a set\u00adtling basin for irri\u00adga\u00adtion water. Anoth\u00ader few stair\u00adcas\u00ades, and we emerged in the vil\u00adlage, in fact, in the court\u00adyard of a tav\u00ader\u00adna. There we met the own\u00ader, from whom we obtained a meal. We were the only cus\u00adtomers. We asked for some\u00adthing dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive\u00adly Cre\u00adtan. He served us baked aubergines stuffed with toma\u00adtoes, onions and roast\u00aded gar\u00adlic. It was superb. He gave us direc\u00adtions to a trail which he thought might lead us to the canyon entrance, but he warned us that the author\u00adi\u00adties had for\u00adbid\u00adden access. Dan\u00adger\u00adous at the best of times, it was now men\u00adaced by flash floods, impass\u00adable pools, and rock falls.<\/p>\n

We decid\u00aded that we would at least look at the entrance, and per\u00adhaps enter as far as seemed safe. Find\u00ading the archae\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal seemed unlike\u00adly, with no clues to its exact loca\u00adtion. All I knew was that it was some sort of for\u00adti\u00adfied strong\u00adhold in a high, defen\u00adsive position.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Canyon entrance at Monastiraki<\/p><\/div>\n

Leav\u00ading our back\u00adpacks at the tav\u00ader\u00adna, we fol\u00adlowed the direc\u00adtions we were giv\u00aden, which did indeed lead to a path that wound up the moun\u00adtain slope. We were con\u00adstant\u00adly accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by goats, which made impos\u00adsi\u00adble leaps and bounds across the steep land\u00adscape. The path did not lead us to the canyon. Instead, it ter\u00admi\u00adnat\u00aded at the Minoan fortress, perched on a high promon\u00adto\u00adry spur of the moun\u00adtain. There was no mis\u00adtak\u00ading the now-famil\u00adiar Minoan mason\u00adry. It was even more atmos\u00adpher\u00adic than the Valmi\u00adki site, giv\u00aden the spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar view of the val\u00adley all the way to the sea. It was clear\u00adly a sort of castle\u00adguard\u00ading the approach to the gorge. But fur\u00adther explo\u00adration beyond this point proved that the gorge could no longer be reached from this direc\u00adtion. Rock\u00adslides and tan\u00adgles of fierce thorn bush blocked the way. The only viable approach was from the north, and would involve many kilo\u00adme\u00adters of walk\u00ading from where we were. It was get\u00adting pret\u00adty late in the day. So we returned to the tav\u00ader\u00adna and formed a new plan.<\/p>\n

A long, switch\u00adback dirt road ris\u00ades from the vil\u00adlage, climb\u00ading the moun\u00adtain wall until it joins the paved road that comes up from the south coast and reach\u00ades the plateau. There is a vil\u00adlage, accord\u00ading to the map, called Thryp\u00adti, and it is pre\u00adcise\u00adly at the point where the gorge reach\u00ades the top. We can at least find out what the plateau looks like, and what exact\u00adly the Eti\u00adoc\u00adre\u00adtans thought worth defending.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was evening, now and we would have to sleep before under\u00adtak\u00ading such a climb. The tav\u00ader\u00adnas own\u00ader offered to let us sleep in the court\u00adyard, after he closed up shop. Fil\u00adip pre\u00adferred to sleep under the stars, some\u00adwhere out of the vil\u00adlage. But the land\u00adscape, where it was not per\u00adpen\u00addic\u00adu\u00adlar, con\u00adsist\u00aded entire\u00adly of sharp peb\u00adbles over\u00adgrown by vicious, mul\u00adti-thorned weeds. He has a large back\u00adpack to put under\u00adneath him, and a thick sleep\u00ading bag. I have only a small ruck\u00adsack and a warm, but very thin sleep\u00ading bag. I have dread\u00adfull mem\u00ado\u00adries of sleep\u00ading on sim\u00adi\u00adlar ter\u00adrain in the reg<\/em> of the Sahara. So I chose to kip out in the tav\u00ader\u00adna court\u00adyard, while Fil\u00adip found his spot in the arms of raw nature.<\/p>\n

But it was not to be. What fol\u00adlowed was a scene from Nikos Kazantza\u00adkis. The tav\u00ader\u00adna had been desert\u00aded dur\u00ading the day, but now peo\u00adple start\u00aded to drift in. Even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly, there were about 35 peo\u00adple there, all engaged in ani\u00admat\u00aded con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion. There were young cou\u00adples who arrived on motor\u00adbikes. There was an elder\u00adly French cou\u00adple who spoke flu\u00adent Greek. There were fam\u00adi\u00adlies with small chil\u00addren. There were teenagers. Peo\u00adple walked by on oth\u00ader errands, but could not resist stay\u00ading to eat, drink and talk. A man arrived with a man\u00addolin, and began to tune it. The own\u00ader of the tav\u00ader\u00adna came out with a gui\u00adtar to accom\u00adpa\u00adny him. They played and sang sad Greek songs, gen\u00adtly, nev\u00ader too loud or vig\u00ador\u00adous\u00adly to inter\u00adfere with the chat\u00adter of the din\u00aders, but giv\u00ading it a sort of rein\u00adforc\u00ading rhythm. They were not so much per\u00adform\u00ading as help\u00ading the peo\u00adple digest their food and giv\u00ading sparkle to their conversation.<\/p>\n

This was utter\u00adly fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading and enter\u00adtain\u00ading, but it was obvi\u00adous that it would go on late into the night. I decid\u00aded to join Fil\u00adip where he was sleeping.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The north shore of Crete, espe\u00adcial\u00adly around Mallia, is the most depress\u00ading part. While the land and seascapes are beau\u00adti\u00adful, the coast is stuffed with beach resorts over\u00adflow\u00ading with tacky tourist busi\u00adness, and seems to have been tak\u00aden over by the \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,927],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ap-blog-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3629"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7672,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3629\/revisions\/7672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}