Gigi and Bearpaw travels

April 27, 2026 Our excursions today took us to two places that were somewhat related.  Both told of the history of the Minoan culture, the first to settle the island of Crete.  We first traveled to the Palace of Knossos, a massive palace that originally dated back to around 2000 B.C.  After being destroyed a couple of times by earthquakes and once by fire the palace was eventually rebuilt around 1500 B.C.  Each time the palace was rebuilt a little bigger and a little more grand.  It eventually covered an area around 22,000 square meters.  The palace was occupied from its origin around 2000 B.C. to around 900 A.D., some 3000 years. Our second excursion took us to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.  This museum contained many artifacts dating from the stone age (around 7000 B.C.).  A bulk of the artifacts came from the times from 3000 B.C. to 1500 B.C.  There was a great deal of pottery, tools and utensils from the bronze age, and a great ...

April 26, 2026 Today we find ourselves in Rhodes, which was founded in 408 B.C.  Much of the city, along with the castle, called the “Palace of the Grand Master”, which was built in the 1300’s.  We were disappointed that the ‘Colossus of Rhodes’ was no longer standing.  It apparently disappeared several centuries ago in a major storm.  It supposedly broke into pieces and a number of those pieces landed in the harbor while the remaining pieces were scattered about on shore.  Since it was made of bronze some of the enterprising people scooped up the pieces, melted it down, and used it for other things.  So no more colossus.  It might have looked like this next image, except much larger. Our first excursion took us to the Lindo Acropolis.  An acropolis is simply the tallest place in the city.  And at the time a temple to honor some god was built. On the way to the top of the acropolis we climbed some six million steps, or at least it seemed that...

April 25, 2026 Our adventure today took us to Ephesus.  The city of Ephesus was begun roughly around the year 2000 B.C.  The city has changed hands a few times.  The Greeks, the Romans, and the Turks have all overtaken the city at one time.  During its heyday it was a Greek sea port.  The port has eventually silted in which was one reason that led to its downfall.  The city lies some four to five miles from the current deep water port.  At one point Ephesus had a population of nearly 250,000. Ephesus is currently an archeological site.  Only about one third of the ancient city has been uncovered.  It has been said that each time a new construction project begins in the area some ancient artifact is uncovered which then leads to an archeological dig. Like Disney Land there is a bazaar immediately outside the exit.  Unfortunately for these merchants a recent discovery was made that will require both the bazaar and parking lot to be moved t...

April 24, 2026 Today we visited the ruins of Troy.  We discovered that the Trojan war certainly was real, but the story of the Trojan horse was apparently a myth, even though there are replicas of the wooden horse located throughout the area. The city of Troy was built some 5000 years ago.  Over the centuries the city was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.  During archeological digs it was found that there were nine levels of Troy.  When one city was destroyed (either by war or fire, etc.) the new city was built right on top of the old ruins.  The earlier levels of the city included a number of features that were rare to find at the time. One of the features was an entrance gate that was around a ninety degree turn.  This feature would prevent an invading army from using a battering ram to gain entry by force. Another feature was a ramp leading to an elevated gate.  This feature made moving heavy objects in and out easier. Troy’s downfall was sim...