What a day! Boy, we really explored Crete today. After waking up early and grabbing breakfast, we took a taxi up to Knossos, the ancient palace of the Minoans. By the time we got to Knossos (which isn't all that far from our hotel), the line was already quite long, but we got in fairly quickly.
As we walked up toward the palace, you could see droves of people heading around the huge palace complex. The Palace of Knossos was built around 1900 B.C. so it's even older than Mycenae. It was uncovered by a contemporary of Heinrich Schliemann (the German archaeologist who discovered Troy and Mycenae), who was a British archaeologist named Sir Arthur Evans. It was amazing!
We saw the Horns of Consecration and decided to copy it...Darius Miles style. haha. Maggie's idea. : P
Overlooking the Center Court...where the royal quarters were.
This was the theater in Knossos. It was square-shaped, which I guess older (among ancient theaters, that is) ones were shaped this way and later switched to the more circular ones for better acoustics. 
Waiting to enter the Throne Room...
That's the throne?
Another famous fresco. You can tell it's Minoan because they didn't have a horizon line, so it looks like they're all floating. I think the real one's in the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion.
Of course, since I've studied Knossos in AP Art History before, I felt like a kid in a candy shop...again. My favorite part was the dolphins fresco in the queen's quarters. It looked great!
After we walked around Knossos, we embarked on an hour plus trip west to Rethymno, a port city famous for picturesque views and a huge Venetian fortress on the port. It was really relaxing!
The Venetian fortress had amazing views of the port and the mountains off in the distance. Erinn and I spent the afternoon walking around the fortress complex, while Maggie and her mom figured out the rest of their trip. The fortress was a lot bigger than I thought!
I called these hobbit holes...and I hit my head on the door. Ouch.
Nice view though.
All that walking was tiring, not to mention having to wake up early, so I chilled on the port for an hour or so while Maggie and her mom went to the fortress and Erinn strolled around the port. I worked on my Fulbright essays, sketched a picture of my view, and took pictures with D-RO's face and Fredoson. It was quite comfortable.
We were all quite hungry at this point, so we headed to the port for some drinks and food. Man, they had pitiful service, but the food was pretty decent. The sun was starting to set, but with all the clouds, it wasn't all that great of a sunset.
Sadly, we didn't have time today to make it to Chania as we headed back on the hour and a half bus ride to Heraklion after dinner. We just made it home a while ago. Tomorrow morning, Maggie and her mom take off really early while Erinn and I have a few more hours in Heraklion before heading back to Crete.
Should be a fun day tomorrow, although I suppose it'll be weird not to be traveling with Maggie after hanging out every day for the past month plus. I'm quite jealous they're heading to so many islands and then on to Istanbul as well. I had originally wanted to go, but I didn't know anyone else in my program at that point. Oh well, Crete and Delphi aren't too shabby either. :P
Probably won't have any more blog posts before I get home with pictures as I've been borrowing Maggie's memory card/USB stick inserter (I don't know what it's called exactly). Since I lost my cord, I'll have to find a new one. I did find my adapter though! Turns out it was in the guesthouse the whole time and one of the other students had it.
Ok, I should head to bed. Toodles!
Sam
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