January 23

So I woke up early this morning to buy some oranges from the nearby fruit stand. We had an earlier start than yesterday (we left at 8 today, therefore my shopping trip was an hour earlier), so the fresh and delicious breads I expected to smell were replaced by the fresh and very dead fish. Even though the fish stands smelled terrible, it still made me smile. I’d rather smell the authentic smells of the town and I like that they vary by the hour. I did buy my orange and spiced things up by throwing in a kiwi. We had to pack a lunch today since the sites were about an hour’s drive and we wouldn’t make it back into town by lunchtime.
The weather today was not great. It was rainy, cold, and windy, but none of these factors was strong enough to prevent us from following the plan for the day. Krentz compromised by allowing us to take the necessary notes on the bus, so we could leave our notebooks behind and just see the different aspects afterwards. We tried to go to Ayia Triada where that sarcophagus I mentioned yesterday was found, but the place was closed. It’s not tourist season and I imagine the guard just didn’t want to show up for what was likely to be a light day attendance wise. Phaistos was open, however, and we went there next. Here was another of those Minoan palaces, though a little smaller and less grand than the one at Knossos. Phaistos hasn’t had the reconstruction that Knossos has undergone, so we got to see what has actually been uncovered. I wish the weather hadn’t been so dreary because it really affected what we could absorb and I was a bit crabby. Next, we went to Gortyn. This city rose in prominence as Knossos began to decline, right as the Romans we coming in to power here. Gortyn didn’t resist the Romans, so this was one of the few places that weren’t destroyed. It became the capital of Crete. What we visited was the Law Code of Gortyn, which dates back to the 5th century BCE. It deals mainly with family situations like divorce, inheritance of property, adoption, and slaves. I did my journal entry on one particular law:
In reading the Law Code of Gortyn, I was surprised by the provision entitled to women in the case of divorce: “And if a husband and wife should be divorced, she is to have her own property which she came with to her husband and half the produce, if there be any from her own property, and half of whatever she has woven within, whatever there may be, plus five saters if the husband be the cause of the divorce…” (40). The woman is by no means left without the ability to continue on with her life. She gets her dowry back, her work during the marriage does not go unnoticed as she gets half of whatever she has woven, and if the husband causes the divorce, she gets extra compensation. Yes, the money during the marriage resides in the hands of her husband and the money she receives in the divorce will go to her next husband, but there is real consideration for the care of women after a divorce. I imagine this law came about because it would be easy to disregard the needs of divorced women. They likely got taken advantage of, as the weaker of the two in the relationship at this time. These laws work to provide some assurance that the female can continue with her own life after the divorce from her husband.
At this site is a church dedicated to Saint Titus. Paul sent Titus to preach to the people of Crete and even became the bishop of Crete. It is possible that Titus was buried under this church. That was my favorite part of the day. For some reason the church was blocked off, so we couldn’t really check it out, but I did get a picture of it.
We headed back to the hotel and ate our lunches on the bus. The original idea was to picnic somewhere, but the weather didn’t really make that plan very appealing. We did see the most beautiful rainbow on the way back. It was full and bold. Every color was visible and it was right among the hills.
When we got to the hotel I just couldn’t resist the urge to nap and slept for about 2 hours. It was wonderful. Around 4:30 I headed out with about 4 other students and Krentz in search of Kazantzaki’s grave. It was only a 10 minute walk. Krentz really wanted to go see it. I’ve never read any of Kazantzaki’s books, but I decided to tag along. Krentz treated us to some Greek coffee afterwards at this little café called 40 Eggs. The sign was in Greek, but on it were a tipped over basket and a number of eggs strewn about. Each was cut in half and physically attached to the sign. Krentz speak a little Greek and we figured out what the sign read. I liked this little place. Everything here has such a slower pace when it comes to meals. No one will rush you. They won’t even bring you the check until you ask for it. Meals here are social occasions and are meant to be fully enjoyed. Most shops close between 3 and 6 so the owners can nap, and then open up again. I like the pace here: busy mornings for shopping, lazy afternoons, and social evenings.
I forgot to mention something yesterday. There are many stray dogs here. They all seem very happy and well fed, but at the same time, they are very aggressive towards moving vehicles, almost to the point where you’d think they were suicidal. The drivers are used to it and barely slow down, which actually adds to the horror for the tourist. I hate to be gruesome, but I haven’t seen any road kill so it seems that the dogs aren’t in too much danger.
Oh, and there is a very interesting thing about the rain here. I think I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs from Egypt that we went to the Nile dam. Well, a consequence of the dam was Lake Nassar. This new lake increases the amount of water that evaporates in the area and lots of reddish dust comes up with the water. Clouds form and migrate north and then dump the rain on places like Greece. So now, the rain is filled with dirt and gets all over your clothes and makes the streets dirty. Spiros was complaining about it because it gets his bus dirty, and true enough, we could barely see out the window by the time we got home. I even had to get out my scrub brush to clean off my jacket.
Alright, I think that’s all I have for the day.