Southern Crete!!

/ Ed Armstrong
We started our day by driving from Heraklion down to southern Crete. At our first stop, our guide took us to this church and told us that this is where Titus taught!! Yes, this same Titus that wrote a book in the New Testament!! This took me completely by surprise!! Obviously, I knew that there were many New Testament authors that taught in the Mediterranean area, but I certainly did not expect to stumble upon the church where Titus taught!! I was amazed!

This lectern was in the front of the church. It is made of marble, which Crete does not have. Therefore, it came from another location.

This is the backside of Titus’ church.

We next walked around the corner and stopped to look at some olive trees. This is the beginning of an olive.

Our guide pointed out how large olive trees can grow here. Compared to the height of these people, the olive tree is massive!

This olive tree is very old. It’s trunk looks unusual because it is so old.

We walked a little farther and came to this amphitheater. They are refurbishing sections of it right now. In the past, it used to have a wooden roof.

We drove a little farther and came to this ruin. This ruin was always visible and did not need to be as thoroughly excavated as some of the other ruins we have seen. The distance shows the greenery in Crete!

Colorful bougainvillea grows readily in Crete!!

This stepped structure is where people would go to hear someone speak. People did not sit down, but used the risers to stand to see and hear the speaker.

These were storage areas used by the community.

A series of storage compartments for the community can be seen here.

The pot on the left was in remarkably good shape. The pot on the right was like a jigsaw puzzle to be put back together!

From the top of the ruin, we could look out and see the rich, vibrant growth of Crete vegetation. The larger trees are olive trees. Our guide told us that virtually all the tomatoes eaten throughout Greece, come from Crete.

This photo shows a partially reconstructed wall in the ruin. The lower portion is original, and the top sections of cement were used to demonstrate what the wall used to look like and to provide support for the wall to minimize further deterioration.

After the going through the previous ruin, we drove down to Matala. This town is right on the southern coast of Crete. It formerly was a destination for the “hippie generation.” Later, the Crete government forced all the hippies to leave the area.

Matala looks out onto the gorgeous waters of the Libyan Sea. I never estimated that I would ever be so close to Libya!! In fact, it is basically the same distance from Matala to Athens, Greece as it is from Matals to the Libyan coast. This really surprised me! It is a beautiful area!!

This is another view of the Libyan Sea. We ate lunch at a local restaurant and then we went swimming in the sea. The day is hot and humid, so it was quite refreshing to swim in the cool water!!