Today we visited beautiful Crete! It was the last official day of my Contiki tour, so towards the end it got quite busy. We had also booked a tour that took us away from the capital city of Heraklion and into the mountainous areas.
We started off by visiting the Monastery of the Panayia Kera in the mountains, where the Virgin Mary performed a miracle in the 1600s. During that time, Crete was invaded and occupied by the Turks who sought to suppress the Greek Orthodox church on the island. A group of Turks stole the icon of the Virgin Mary from the small church at the monastery, but it returned itself to the monastery and chained itself to a pillar, which was considered a miracle. The same icon and chains were on display inside the church to see and touch. Inside the church were also beautiful Byzantine frescoes, which were very dark because they haven't been restored. The frescoes were also missing in places because during the Turkish occupation, the locals put plaster over the decorated walls so the church wouldn't be demolished. So there were only about half of the frescoes left, but what was left was beautiful and very unlike any of the others I've seen on the Greek islands. It was much more morbid, showing people burning, being eaten by giant fish, and so on. But still beautiful in a dark way. We finished our tour by walking through the secret tunnel corridor where, during the Turkish occupation, children were taught in secret the Greek alphabet and religion.
Our second stop was my favourite of the day: the cave high up in the mountains where the Greek god Zeus is said to have been born and hidden from his father Cronus until he was old enough to defeat him and become king of the gods.
First we had to trek up to the top of Mount Ida which was an ordeal for someone wearing thongs, i.e. myself. We had the option of taking a donkey up but I chose to get some exercise instead. It took about half an hour of steep rocky paths to get to the top. Once we got there, we formed single file and approached the mouth of the cave, which seemed small until you approached the 200 steps going down. It was about 35 degrees Celsius at that time of the day and standing at the top of the steps, you could feel cold air blowing out of the cave and hitting you. Usually it's about 18 degrees in the cave but it felt freezing because I've gotten so used to hot weather. It was very refreshing though, and the cave itself was impressive with enormous stalactites and stalagmites aged roughly 2 million years old. It was another place that felt so special when you were there, and we got to throw coins in the pool of water at the bottom of the cave to pay homage to Zeus. It was eerie though because the cave's rock formations look to be a normal rock-colour when you look at them with your own eyes, but when you take a photo of them without flash, everything is bathed in an ethereal green light.
After Zeus' cave, we headed to our lunch destination which was located near some shops selling handmade goods such as weaving, pottery, carvings and candles. There was also a natural zoo with some of Crete's mountain goats inside. We had a wander around and then went to lunch which was a five course meal of traditional Cretan dishes, all incredibly delicious.
After lunch, we went to a little beach that is a favourite with the locals on the island. After walking up a mountain it was lovely to just walk right into the warm sea, which was just what we needed. We spent a couple of hours just floating in the sea and it was the perfect end to our day.
After the tour ended we didn't have enough time to see the rest of Crete. Next time I go, I will definitely be visiting the Minoan Palace of Knossos!!
After getting back on the boat we went to a series of meetings about the disembarkation schedule of the ship, and our Contiki guide helped us out with planning for getting to our various hotels and hostels tomorrow in Athens. We had a farewell dinner where we all sat together on one huge table. Later that night at the ship disco we played a massive game of Slaps, which was the drinking game and not the card game. I kept losing and having to take shots so after a couple of rounds I thought it best to retire to bed considering we had to be off the boat by 7am.
Athens tomorrow, the end of Contiki and the start of a new solo travelling adventure to Barcelona! I have had the best time on the Contiki tour, apart from being sick with the famous cough towards the end. I've met the best people who I will definitely be keeping in contact with. Missing them already.
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