I have moved to Paris, so have begun a new blog for anything concerning Paris, France, or western Europe. https://paris-montrougescribbler.blogspot.com. Do have a look!
I will keep this blog going, though, for anything concerning Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, eastern Europe, the Levant, Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, and southwest Asia.
My next group of posts will deal with Crete.
Crete without the Minoan Palaces. Part 1
One week in Crete, late April, after Orthodox Easter, our first time on the island since 1989 (me) or 1980 (M-H). We do not want to visit Minoan palaces -- Knossos, Malia, Phaistos, or Kato Zakro. They are familiar. We have seen them already and taught them in classes. We want to see new sites, new places!
We arrive in Heraklion by plane, rent a car (Toyota Yaris), and drive east to Agios Nikolaos where we will stay three nights. The parking lot below our little hotel has a dramatic but rather ugly sculpture of Europa and the bull.
First stop the next morning: Gournia. An exception, for this Minoan site has a little palace, or palace-like mansion, on its hilltop. We walk along its paved streets, from 2,500 years ago.
Gournia was excavated in the early 20th century by Harriet Boyd (later Hawes, after her marriage). An American, she was prohibited from taking part on American excavations in Greece -- for women, not allowed -- so she decided to do it herself. With Edith Hall, she rode east from Heraklion on a donkey, and conducted scientific explorations in this region. Uncovering most of this small Minoan village, Gournia, and soon after publishing a detailed account of her findings was a highlight of her work and a major achievement in the archaeology of this island.
Harriet Boyd Hawes (1871-1945)
Other American archaeologists have been active in this corner of Crete, contemporaries of Boyd Hawes like Richard Seager, and in recent years, a generous cluster of active scholars, such as Philip Betancourt, Jeffrey Soles, Vance Watrous, Leslie Day, Geraldine Gesell, Donald Haggis, John Younger, and Angus Smith (who is based in Canada). [Forgive me if I have left you out.] Also located here is the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete, which offers state-of-the-art facilities for the study of the findings from their projects and from projects of Greek and other archaeologists. Here is the center's web site, for more information: https://instapstudycenter.net
The director since the opening of the Study Center in 1997 has been Thomas Brogan. His great knowledge of the archaeology of Crete and his generosity and good cheer have been instrumental in the success of the center.
With Tom we visit Mochlos, a Minoan town located on a small island just off the north coast. The weather is too windy for a boat to cross, and it's certainly too cold to swim, so we must settle for a look from the mainland.
After a late lunch at Mochlos (on the mainland), Tom drives us (4-wheel drive essential) up to Azoria, a site on a steep hilltop, where excavations have revealed exciting clues about social changes that led to the rise of cities in the early Iron Age.
