Europe’s first advanced civilisation: The Minoan

Still with jet-lag after our trip to Ecuador, just 4 days after our return and here we go again on a plane, this time bound for another Greek island never been before: Crete. So long time wishing to come here but never found the perfect deal nor good flying times until now. And what’s best? It was a bank holiday on top, hence 3 full days to enjoy this beautiful island with countless to see and do. I’m still quite surprise about the great flight deal we got, being the way into Heraklion with British Airways. I strongly recommend you to keep checking from time to time to their offers, and if you are an executive club member and hold a good bunch of Avios, do not hesitate in using them to off-set the total cost of your flight. By doing this you will still ear Avios and tier points, and can reduce dramatically the cost as was in our case this time, much cheaper than a low-cost carrier.

It’s incredible how such a small piece of land, and island, to be home to the first advanced civilization of Europe, the Minoan, who lasted from 2700 to 1420 BC when they were taken over the Mycenaean civilization from mainland Greece. It’s with the Mycenaean that the oldest samples of writing in Greek language are found in the Knossos Palace. Then came the Archaic and Classical Period from the 6th century before Christ until the Roman rule. Thereafter is a constant period of war and continuous civilizations and rules taking over, from the double Byzantine periods, where in between Crete succumbed to the Arab rule form a century and a half, to the Venetians, the Ottoman, a state for few years before becoming a Greek province.

With such a long history and past, wherever you are in the island is full or archaeological remains, sights and historical sites. A weekend, or a long weekend as we had with 3 days in the island, was too short. Rarely we can say something like this especially when on an island, but this is the truth. We had to prioritise and crate a tour according to our time, scrapping on this occasion the whole east of the island. (more…)