May 22-Part 1

We woke up off the coast of Crete, the birthplace of Zeus.  A couple of biblical references to Crete are as Acts 2:11 and Acts 27:11-21. 

We had an excursion planned to some ruins and I don’t remember the name of them.  This morning I learned a lesson the way I usually do, the hard way.  The lesson is, don’t underestimate the value of a good tour guide.  A good guide brings history to life.  Maybe the poor woman was new but she kept repeating herself and had to consistently keep thumbing thru the tourist guide book for information.  I looked longingly at other tour guides telling stories and jokes.  The people in their groups looked so happy.  We were not happy.  More than once I thought to myself, “if Jennifer was here right now she would be poking out her own eyeballs,” It was rough.  I’ll admit, I would have rather been shopping without buying and that’s saying a lot.  That being said, I did pick up a few interesting pieces of information about this really old place. 

One thing that was very unique, is that the palace was not on a high point.  I’ve been to quite a few ruins and I think all of them were strategically located so that the town could defend itself from invaders.  The people of Crete were peaceful and maybe this is why their ancient palace was not on a high fortification.  In fact, as I looked around, the location was in the bottom of a bowl.  It was surrounded by mountains.  The other interesting fact is that the palace had running water that they obtained by clay pipes from a mountain 10 kilometers away.  Keep in mind this is from a civilization that exited 3000-4000 years ago.  I bet they had better showers than that cruise ship…

I’ll admit, I was tired.  I felt kind of bad for my condemnation of the tour guide.  She was probably new and was probably doing the best she could.  Sometimes, I am in need of a good guide to make my trip more interesting.  Sometimes, I’m boring.  As the tour finished up, I noticed all the people taking selfies.  No wonder social media is so popular.  Everybody is yelling “Look at me!  Please, look at me!”  I should buy stock in Facebook.  As I look at people of all nations taking selfies, I realize this phenomenon isn’t going away.  

Maybe I put on the wrong glasses (and ears) this morning.  Some mornings I do that.  

I see a man in a red flannel shirt playing an accordion.  He has a light mustache.  His music sounds like Greece.  He smiles at me.  He looks happy.  

Tonight we go to Santorini.