By the monastery |
(Sami here) We docked
at the port of Heraklion, Greece on the isle of Crete in the early afternoon. Our
tour bus took us up the rocky, olive tree covered mountains to the Arkadi
Monastery (built in 1500).
We
learned that the monastery is important to the Cretan history because in 1866
the Cretans waged a revolt against Turkish troops who had been in control of
Crete for almost two centuries. The townspeople routinely took shelter in the monastery,
but in November the Turkish soldiers laid siege to the monastery.
The people were
huddled in a room together and faced being overwhelmed by their attackers. Rather
than be taken, the townspeople, with a monk as leader, set on fire a room
filled with gunpowder. The explosion, which killed all the people inside the
monastery and most of the Turkish soldiers, was a desperate act of the Cretans
to remain free and not fall in the hands of their enemies. This act drew the
attention of the western world to the plight of Crete and rallied the world
around their cause, ultimately driving the Turks from Crete.
Although
we understand it is a working monastery and church, it was quiet the day when we
were there, with a greeting committee of two cats and a dog. Rather a solemn
place.
Stéphanos,
our guide that day, was one of my favorites, not because he knew the most information
and history, but because when I asked him about Greece’s economy he answered
from a very personal place, and went on to talk at length about what it meant
to him to be Greek.
After our
trip down the mountain we sat at a little cafe in the old town of Rethymnon drinking
coffee and resting. Our tour guide took a little break too.
We decided not to fill our suitcases up with souvenirs, but I now wish I had bought more than one natural sponge. |
Rethymnon was small and filled with interesting buildings and photo ops. |
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