Bull-Leaping

Chris demonstrates in front of a giant set of horns while Dave explains the Minoan "Bull-Leaping" Ritual

Often, I am sure it was nearly impossible for someone to tell the difference between fact and fiction while listening to Chris. However, despite the cloudiness of my ancient history lessons, our vacation wouldn't have been near as much fun without his hilariously warped explanations of culture, technology, ancient civilizations and "the unknown".

Awesome Hiding Place & Lots of Storage Space

Patricia viewing the large pithoi

The archaeologists and curators have painstakingly reassembled some of the very large Minoan pithoi back together. These ornately decorated jars were so large they had handles spaced across the entire surface to, I believe, distribute the load and enable them to be emptied or even moved.

A little know fact, according to Chris, is that in the past tourists were allowed to crawl inside the jars for awesome "photo ops." However, too many couldn't crawl back out so that practice is now prohibited. Hmmm........?

Crete

Patricia points out the bull-leaping ritual painted onto an ancient storage jar called pithoi.

I went to a traditional Saudi Arabian wedding the other evening and on looking back at my blog postings I really feel compelled to share a few more photos and stories from our summertime Italy, Greece, and Turkey vacation. We had such a great time touring with our new friends Kelli and Chris, Platt and all the young adults from our local high school and university.

On one cruise ship stop we negotiated for a cab to take us from the Crete port of Iraklion to the ancient Minoan palace at Knossos. The Minoans reached their technological and cultural peak around 1600 B.C. Their palace at Knossos even had bathrooms and running water.