Need Some Heat?

Need some heat, let’s go to Crete! Fed up with the world? Let’s hop on a magic carpet and escape to Greece. Yes, it’s posh sketchbook time again and some holiday memories. 

After a couple of days lounging on the beach in Chania, I was desperate for some culture and decided to go on a tour to Heraklion and Knossos, so I booked the trip the evening beforehand. Come the next morning I was all excited and raring to go. At the designated time, I sat waiting on the hotel steps for my pick up. Tour buses came and went and nobody claimed me, I waited and waited and was about to give up when a lonely taxi arrived with a rather dodgy, stockily built, swarthy mafia looking type behind the wheel (that’s his mugshot in my sketch). He opened the door and barked something that sounded like my name and my first instinct was definitely NOT to get in the car but cultural curiosity won the day, I climbed in, as we departed down the driveway I was concerned that this was my last view of the hotel and that I was being abducted by bandits, (Yes, I do have a tendency to be over dramatic) I would like to say that he turned out to be friendly but nope he remained surly, I sat on tenterhooks till I was safely delivered (chucked out) at a waiting bus 20 minutes later. 

After an uneventful ride we arrived in Heraklion, at the archaeological museum and here start my difficulties with time, I am always torn between ''seeing everything'' and sketching, I always take a sketchbook and did a quick couple of doodles in the museum while being impressed by the fabulous artefacts, jewellery and murals many of which came from the palace of Minos in Knossos. Still, I wanted a quick mosey through Heraklion before the trip went on to Knossos. So, with regret I left the museum and headed through the streets of the city and down to the harbour, an hour later we boarded the bus for Knossos, the palace of Minos (the supposed hiding place of the Minotaur, the mythological creature half man, half bull). The palace and surrounds is enormous and it is in itself a labyrinth. The palace is the centre of the Minoan culture and was started about 1600 BC, well worth visiting (though perhaps if you can chose not in 46C in the middle of summer). What’s perhaps a little disappointing is the fact that the interpretation of the palace and it’s grounds are really based on the excavation by Arthur Evans in 1900, his use of grey concrete (which has caused massive restoration problems) to reconstruct  his vision of the site has since been called in to question but nevertheless it’s an impressive place.

Unfortunately, time was limited and it was scorching hot, the sun reflects off the pale stone and there is virtually no shade, so if you go you definitely need a sunhat and loads of water (and good shoes!). 

I love touring museums and archaeological sites and even cities but a day trip like this tends to result in sensory-overload when trying to sketch as well, trying to pick just one motif is tricky, as a result my holiday sketching tends to be a wee collage of things I've seen in a very sketchy style, that’s why reliving my trips in this large sketchbook using different media is a great way of processing all the sights, snells and sounds. Tastes too, loike those fabulous olives and the little Greek doughnuts, with sesame and drenched in a sweet syrup. Yum, a great way to end an exhausting trip, grateful for a safe arrival back at the hotel this time in a VIP shuttle with a cool bottle of water and a very friendly driver!