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Home , Heraklion

Iraklion

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Crete,

Friday, April 14, 2017

During the night we crossed the to reach and to moor alongside in Iraklion. Rather than taking a tour, or just striking out on our own, we hired a taxi driver to lead us about for about four hours. We wound up with a prince of a guy who showed us the town, got us out of town, took us to the Palace of , and then at our request took us to one of his favorite restaurants. It really was beneficial to be with someone like that for an extended time as questions got asked and answered that you just couldn't make happen with a bigger group. So, we jumped into his taxi, a Volkswagen product made in the —some years ago, and off we went.

First stop, at one of the fortifications. The have been overrun with wars, ever since wars were invented.

The Cathedral, Good Friday Services in Pro- gress. Services are about 3 hours long and Stand Up proceedings. Embroidered garments of unbelieva- ble detail and beauty.

The original walls of the forti- fied city, now covered with spring flowers. But you can also see the graffiti which co- vers a fair amount of the walls in Greece.

High above Heraklion, those yellow flowers cover the hill sides.

The Palace of Knossos was begun in 1900 BC and it is the largest of the palaces found in Crete. The initial settle- ments in this area were during the Neolithic period (6000 -3200 BC). Knossos was the oldest of the Minoan palaces and settlements found. What a commanding position it had with regard to the surrounding countryside.

The Throne Room

I show you this picture just to give you a look at the size of the calamari that was served. This is the local restaurant that our driver took us to; large Greek Salad, stuffed grape leaves, the calamari as well as bread, meatballs and sauces. I also tried the local beer—Mythos.

Recapping what we learned from our friend for the day as well as Greek folks we met along the way, it is easy to see why they are dis- couraged and they don’t know how to fix the economic problems in Greece. Unemployment stands at 20 % for the men, 27% for the women. Gas costs about $7.30 per gallon. Because of decisions a couple of decades ago, a vast majority of the country works for the government, or did work for the government—and now the pension financial load is staggering. It all started with the wars. Everyone wanted to control Greece because of the strategic location in the Mediterranean. You pick em—the Goths, the Visigoths, the Phoenici- ans, the Normans, the Venetians, etc. all have battered the country. The Venetians and the Cretans finally joined forces tostand against the Ottomans. Then and invaded. Even after WWII, they then had a civil war. When the Marshall Plan tried to help, cor- rupt politicians skimmed off the top. But their money problems really started in the 1800s when the Greeks did their first big borrow— from the UK. But the British charged them 60% interest. They have really never recovered. Even the 2004 Olympics were a financial disaster. They were not in a financial situation to pull that off; they borrowed more money. Attendance was diminished by the fears following 9/11. Today, many of the Olympic buildings and stadiums are not being used or being used to refugees. And the Euro does not help them as they have nothing to export—except tomatoes and olives. Because the landscape is so rugged, most harvesting is done by hand and the lack of expansive fertile land makes agriculture a tough go. There is little industry that can export. What they have is history and lots of it. Confused some time with mythology. But exporting history and mythology in the form of tourism is what they have turned to. As the government has tried to reduce costs, medical benefits and pensions have been decreased. Doctors are leaving because they can’t make a living and the young are departing creating a brain drain. Plus the lack of financial security has de- creased the birth rate. It is a downward spiral driven by wars, borrowing, corruption and politicians. But it is such a beautiful country and the people are just so kind and friendly. It was sad to hear of their frustration and lack of an apparent solution. We had a wonder ful day In Heraklion, Crete