Crete - Our last Greek Island

Can you believe that folks on the island of Crete actually call themselves Cretans? Sound so derogatory.
On this island, we decide that we needed to visit the Minoan palace at Knossos with a local guide. So we paid our money and piled on board the bus with a whack of annoying tourists. For those who know, our guide, let’s call him Greg as I cannot spell the Greek version, looks and sounds much like our friend Randall. He was very informative during a two hour tour ~ most of which at the palace.
This site was excavated by Sir Arthur Evans between the years 1900 – 1933. He was so obsessed by this project that he spent half his life and all of his money developing it. He returned to England in 1935 and donated the whole project to the Greek people. His discoveries created a whole new page of history as the Minoans had been unknown prior to this project. The first palace was built about 2,000 BC and was subsequently destroyed by earthquake in 1750 BC. It was rebuilt in less time than the original construction which was estimated as being 50 years. The rebuild was quicker as they had greater knowledge and re-used building materials from the damaged buildings. The palace was destroyed again by the Mycenaean’s in 1350 BC and was never rebuilt even though people continue to inhabit the city outside its walls.
Using information from graves, it was estimated that the Minoans were about 5’ and men lived to between 40 and 45 (women lived shorter lives as they frequently died in childbirth). Based on this, John and I are both tall and old compared to a regular Minoan. They were peaceful people with their frescos depicting pictures of nature and rituals which are unlike the invading Mycenaean’s who was a warlike nation with their imagery reflecting this.
Crete is the garden island of Greece with its primary source of income being agriculture and animal husbandry. There are 5 major (really not big by most standards) cities with a total island population of approximately 600,000. The island is the 5 largest in the Med after Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Cyprus.
On the agricultural note, olives are extremely important to the Cretans as they consume 28 litres of olive oil per person per annum. There are about 35 million olive trees on the island which live for many years; the oldest of which is no longer producing but is 2,300 years old.
We also visited a village which demonstrates traditional buildings and methods of work. It was very charming with handicrafts and beautiful stone buildings. There were school boys working in the gardens who practiced their English by welcoming us to Greece. As that was the only English from them, I suspect they are still learning.
Last day of the tours to the Greek islands which are really lovely. Unfortunately, they are going to be in for a bit of a rough ride as tourism is down as a result of all the news about debt crisis. Hope it does not last long as in many areas it will have a huge and lasting impact.