November 20 - Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece

Today is a bittersweet day, a liitle more bitter than sweet. On one of our first Seabourn cruises Al and I stopped here. We took a tour of Knossos, King Minos’ palace in Heraklion.  That’s the one in which the king had a labyrinth built to restrain the Minotaur, a monstrous creature that was half man and half bull. It was on this island that the Minoan civilization flourished more than 4000 years ago.  The king’s palace had running water in both baths and toilets and parts of it were five stories tall. Following the big volcanic eruption at Santorini in about 1600 BC a huge tidal wave swept away Knossos and it was never rebuilt. Instead Mycenaeans, Ionians and other people from mainland Greece arrived and they were more war-like and spent their money and effort on that endeavor.

Agios Nikolaos from my veranda

Back to why this was a little sad day.  On that first visit here after our tour we had lunch in the boat harbor and when we walked back to the ship we passed a little jewelry shop and Al bought me a pendant that was a double bee, the symbol of the Minoan civilization.  The shop was owned by a couple; the man was a goldsmith who made most of the jewelry sold there.  We came here again on my last cruise with Al and the shop was still there so we went in.  The lady told us that her husband had passed away not long before.  Al bought me another pendant and he got a set of cufflinks.  Last year I stopped here and wore one of the pendants that came from her shop. The lady recognized it, and she said she recognized me as well – who knows, and we sat and had coffee and I told her my husband was gone too.  I bought a very pretty Greek meander ring.  Well, today when I passed the shop, it’s no longer in business.  Many places are closed because the tourist season is over, but the little jewelry shop had the windows all papered over and signs saying everything was 30% off and something in Greek which I think was “store closing.”  They say you can never go back and I guess that’s true.

My jewelry store that is no more

You can see how empty the streets and sidewalks look

There was more than just the jewelry store though.  The little harbor where we tendered in used to have lots of small fishing boats tied up.  There was one that was very derelict and half sunken that was in the same spot for a couple of visits.  They’re all gone; I don’t know where they moved to or maybe they all sank. There are more apartments being built and it just isn’t the same place anymore.   Well, no matter.  That’s progress and we all just have to get on with things.

This man was the only fisherman I saw along the way.  I passed him as I walked back to the tender dock and asked him if he'd caught his lunch yet. He hadn't.

I didn’t stay ashore long.  If I stop here again I shall have to arrange for a drive out to some other part of the island or perhaps visit Knossos again.   This afternoon trivia starts again.  Only three of us are left from the last leg.  We’ll have to find some new teammates.  Perhaps we should interview them to see if they can help our previous very unimpressive performance.  After all, everyone wants to win a coffee mug or a fake leather passport holder. 

It's tomorrow morning now.  We recruited a new team and, wonder of wonders, we won!  After dinner I had a drink before dinner with two ladies I met the night before.  We had dinner at separate hosted tables. Mine was a lovely table which I really enjoyed.  After dinner the two ladies and I went to the show together and then the night really started.  They’re both widows too and both from the UK but one is originally Canadian. That lady is an absolute live wire who dances every dance.  We went to the club and actually didn’t leave until the bartender came over to tell us she was closing down for the night.  We danced, laughed, talked with several of the staff members and had an absolutely wonderful time.  It was a little after 1 AM when I got back to my cabin. At home I often have trouble falling asleep but here I’m out almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.  I can’t attribute it to drinking because I have maybe one drink so it must be that I’m expending lots of energy.  Whatever it is, it feels great and I in the morning I’m rested and recharged.  I’m going ashore now at our next port and I’ll tell you more about it in my next entry.