Towering rock walls rise a thousand feet. A creek rattles against the rocks, slipping down from the mountains toward the distant ocean. The drama of Crete’s Samaria Gorge, which runs ten miles before emptying into the Libyan Sea, comes from its epic proportions. Samaria is reportedly the longest gorge in Europe, which at its highest point rises 1,600 […]
In Greece, classical civilization threads all aspects of daily life. Broken Ionic columns lie in everyone’s backyard, and the bus maps are written in the language of the philosophers. But Crete, the largest island in Greece, has more than just a Platonic heritage. Crete was once the heart of the Minoan civilization, a Bronze Age matriarchy that ruled […]
A young man and a princess descend into the darkness. Deep in the maze beneath her father’s palace, they can hear growling. Their torches flicker. A ball of string threads their path back to safety. Once they have killed the monster that lurks here, they will sail away together, escaping the wrath of her father; but for […]
I have two confessions to make: a) I have a sweet tooth, and b) I skipped Knossos in favour of indulging my sweet tooth passion in Krousonas. I guess sometimes you just have to get your priorities right. My time on the Greek island of Crete was limited and I reasoned that Knossos has been around […]
A one-hour flight from Athens to Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, dropped us near Heraklion, a bustling, noisy town I didn’t expect to like. But who can resist those exuberant Greeks, who love to talk? Every square and every cafe-bar was crammed with coffee-and beer-drinkers watching the scene and talking endlessly to each […]