Greece - Korina Miller [378]
* * *
AN ETHNO-ESCAPE
If you’re doing the ‘Minoan triangle’ of sites south of Iraklio and want to see something equally edifying but a bit more modern, visit Vori. This unassuming village 4km east of Tymbaki boasts the private Museum of Cretan Ethnology ( 28920 91112, appointments 28920 91110; admission €3; 10am-6pm Apr-Oct, by appointment winter). The exhibits, which cover rural life, war, customs, architecture, music, and the herbs, flora and fauna used in Crete’s unique cuisine, provide fascinating insights into traditional Cretan culture. Beautiful weavings, furniture, woodcarvings and musical instruments are displayed too. It’s well signposted from the main road.
* * *
Phaestos has its own distinctive attractiveness. There’s an air of mystery about the desolate, unreconstructed ruins altogether lacking at Knossos. Also in contrast to Knossos, few frescoes remain here; Phaestos’ palace walls were apparently mostly covered with white gypsum.
The new palace entrance is by the 15m-wide Grand Staircase. The stairs access the Central Court. North of here lie the palace complex’s best-preserved sections, the reception rooms and private apartments. While excavations continue, it’s known that the entrance here was marked by an imposing portal with half columns at either side, the lower parts of which are still in situ. Unlike the Minoan freestanding columns, however, they don’t taper at the base. The celebrated Phaestos disc, now in Iraklio’s archaeological museum Click here, was discovered in a building north of the palace.
There are eight daily buses from Iraklio to Phaestos (€5.90, 1½ hours), also stopping at the Gortyna site. Five daily buses also connect Phaestos with Agia Galini (€2.80, 25 minutes, five daily) and Matala (€1.80, 30 minutes, five daily).
Agia Triada Αγα Τριδα
Pronounced ah-yee-ah trih-ah-dha, Agia Triada ( 28920 91564; admission €3, incl Phaestos €6; 10am-4.30pm summer, 8.30am-3pm winter), 3km west of Phaestos, was a smaller but similarly designed palace, and possibly a royal summer villa, judging by the opulence of the objects discovered here. North of the palace, the stoa (long, colonnaded building) of an erstwhile settlement has been unearthed. Iraklio’s archaeological museum Click here contains significant local finds, including a sarcophagus, two superlative frescoes and three vases.
The signposted right-hand turn to Agia Triada is about 500m past Phaestos on the Matala road. There’s no public transport.
Gortyna Γóρτυα
Sprawling across the road connecting Iraklio and Phaestos, on the Mesara plain, Gortyna ( 28920 31144; admission €4; 8am-7.30pm, to 5pm winter) is a vast and intriguing site. Gortyna (pronounced gor-tih-nah) was inhabited from Minoan to Christian times, and became capital of Rome’s Cyrenaica province.
The massive stone tablets inscribed with the wide-ranging Laws of Gortyna (5th century BC) comprise Gortyna’s most significant exhibit. Fixed remains include the 2nd-century-AD Praetorium, once residence of the provincial governor; a Nymphaeum; and the Temple of Pythian Apollo. Finally, see the ruined 6th-century-AD Basilica of Agios Titos, dedicated to this protégé of St Paul and Crete’s first bishop.
The ruins are 46km southwest of Iraklio and 15km from Phaestos. There’s no public transport.
Return to beginning of chapter
ARHANES ΑΡΧΑΝΕΣ
pop 4700
Pretty Arhanes, 14km south of Iraklio, is a restored traditional village with lovely old houses and excellent tavernas set around relaxing, leafy squares. Although Arhanes once boasted a Minoan palace, only ruins remain (signposted from the main road).
The Archaeological Museum of Arhanes ( 28107 52712; admission free; 8.30am-3pm Wed-Mon) contains finds from regional archaeological excavations. The exhibits include larnakes (coffins) and musical instruments from Fourni, and an ornamental dagger from the Anemospilia temple.
Visit the site www.archanes.gr for online information.
Accommodation here includes Neraidospilios (