We woke up at 0630 and hit the hotel for breakfast. The
composition of the buffet was slightly different from what you’d expect at an
American hotel. Notably, American hotels will often have big tubs of scrambled
eggs, but eggs were conspicuously absent this morning. The protein was also
different – there was a tin of cold cuts where you would expect sausage or
bacon if you were in the States. Overall, breakfast was serviceable and we
piled into the bus for an hour long ride across the island to Rethymno.
At Rethymno we switched up our normal course of study to
hear a lecture from Dr. Marinos Sariyannis, a local expert on the more modern
history (read: not 2000 years old) of the town and researcher at the local
university. Starting from the port, we walked into the city through the old
town. Much of the lecture focused on the fusion of Ottoman Empire building
customs and the earlier Venetian building conventions. The Venetians purchased
the rights to Crete following the Fourth Crusade, which saw the Western
European powers essentially carve up the Byzantine Empire on their way to the
Holy Land. The Ottomans, who conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1453, arrived at
Crete in 1645 with a hankering for conquering. The conquest was completed in
1669. The Ottomans set about remaking the towns of Crete in their preferred
fashion. One of the first things that was done was to convert existing churches
to mosques. For example, this minaret was added to a church.
One of the other really cool pieces of evidence we saw was
the remnants of an Ottoman dome over a Venetian fountain. While only a fragment
of the bottom edge of the dome remains, it would have covered a large chunk of
the area near the fountain.
Our lecture ended at the monument in a plaza a few blocks
from the sea. The monument honors the Anatolian Greeks who were forced out of
Turkey in 1923. A little backstory on this. Following World War I, Greek
populations in Asia Minor, especially Anatolia, experienced brutal campaigns of
violence against them. Likewise, Muslims in Greece were treated with repression
as well. To stem the rising tide of casualties, the Greeks and Turks signed the
Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 that effectively swapped the populations of Greeks
and Muslims in the other country. There were some exceptions where the
subpopulations of the different groups refused to leave, such as the Thracian
Muslims and Greeks of Istanbul. Millions were displaced however, and the
monument in Rethymno commemorates the names of the villages whence the
Anatolian Greeks came.
After the lecture, I grabbed delicious strawberry gelato
from a shop on the corner and the group got back on the bus to head to the
Arkadi monastery. Amy gave us some background on the monastery, which survived
Ottoman rule by swearing allegiance to the Sultan. It was sieged during the
Greek rebellion against the Ottomans in the early 19th century and
ended rather spectacularly with the Greek defenders blowing themselves up with
a cache of gunpowder as the Ottomans stormed the compound. This day is
commemorated in Rethymno and the surrounding area.
We took a few wrong turns on the way to the monastery but
eventually managed to get there. It’s always comforting to feel the bus stop
while Amy and the driver, Paniatos, consult a map. We only had a short amount
of time to poke around, but people snapped some pics and then we jumped back on
the bus. We picked up a potter at the Eleutherna archaeological museum named
Geogios Delamvelas and he took us on a tour of his ceramic producing
facilities. We hiked into the woods off the road to his kiln and clay
production trays. The clay that he uses is dug out of the mountain a 3 km hike
away. The kiln, which was cooling down after a firing, has a 1 m^3 capacity. The
process that George uses is called reduction, where the oxygen in the clay is
used to fuel the fire after the kiln is sealed. We also walked to another,
massive ruined kiln, where pithoi (massive pots) were fired.
Then we went to George’s workshop and saw one of the coolest
things I’ve seen so far on the trip. George showed us some of his “clever”
ceramics before he gave us a demonstration. There was a “salt shaker” design,
which doesn’t dispense salt unless it is shaken in a specific manner, a jug
that has to have a hole in the exterior covered to drink from it, a small vase
that makes a noise like a warbler when filled slightly with water, and the famous
cup of Pythagoras, which punishes a greedy drinker by emptying their cup if
they take too much wine. And then he threw clay and created a cup of
Pythagoras. It was incredible. The fluidity of his motion, the efficiency and
skill with which he threw, and the amazing quality of the final product all
attested to his 20+ years of making pots by hand. The whole thing took at most
10 minutes. We’ve had a lot of very gifted lecturers talk to us already, but
George’s discussion of the clay and his process of creating ceramics was the
most impressive lecture thus far. He obviously had such deep knowledge of his
process and the history of pottery in the area was extensive.
After the demonstration, Talia and I grabbed lunch at a café
in Margaritas. There were adorable cats roaming the restaurant (yes we gave
them some food), which had a beautiful view onto the gorge. The food was good,
came quickly, and was quite tasty. The feta was actually the best I’ve eaten in
Greece thus far. I’ve certainly found a new appreciation for feta, and it’s
only been a week! I high-tailed it out of the restaurant to catch the bus, and
nearly missed it while using the restroom. Fortunately, someone saw me and the
bus stopped so I could get on.
Next up was the museum at Eleutherna, which had literally
just opened this week. The highlights of the collection were a Homeric shield,
bronze, from the 9th or 8th centuries BCE. It had been
restored pretty fantastically and was rightfully situated at the front of the
museum as the crown jewel. The other awesome display was from Eleutherna as
well. While the actual artifacts are traveling as part of the museum exhibition
“The Greeks,” the paragraph next to the display described it quite well. The
funeral pyre contained the body of a man and his goods, including weapons and
armor. But most interestingly it also contained the body of another man,
missing his head. It is suggested that he was killed in revenge, as is attested
in the Iliad where Achilles kills Trojan prisoners before the funeral of
Patroclus.
After the museum we were back on the bus and headed for
Phaistos. We arrived and Luke made a cat friend before being told that it was “Not.
Nice.” to behave that way with the cat.
Then we got into the main site and Eva did a site report. The
report was pretty good – I think the strongest elements came out when we were
asked to move through parts of the site while picturing its former glory in our
minds. Phaistos was formerly a Minoan palace, a center of administration and commerce
for the region. The first palace on the site was destroyed by an earthquake,
but a new palace was constructed almost immediately. Eventually it was razed by
the Gortynians. The site continues to be excavated by the Italian Academy of
Archaeology.
After Phaistos we hopped back on the bus for the trip to
Matala and our hotel. We arrived, piled into rooms, and then turned around
quickly to grab dinner. Luke and I wound up separated from the group and
grabbed gyros and fries at a small restaurant. After that, we found a large
part of the group at a different restaurant with an ocean view. We pulled up
chairs and helped several people finish their food. Shoutout to Melanie for
offering me the biggest mussel I’ve ever seen in my life. Following the meal,
we hit the beach. The ocean was gorgeous as usual and while I didn’t swim, I
stood in the water for a while and it was wonderful. Slowly the crowd on the
beach dwindled until it was just Asia, Abi, Luke, and me. Eventually it got too
late for us too and we headed back to the hotel.
Another fantastic day. Amazing day learning, and a great
time after that hanging out with people from the group. Tomorrow we’re back at
it, hitting up more sites and museums.
Also, if I can’t upload photos due to hotel wifi, I’ll be leaving
in a tag to remind myself and editing the post later. Upcoming still are the week one summary and the post about prehistoric Aegean civilization, which I'm slowly writing on the bus rides.
Thanks for reading.
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