As summer comes to a close and the fall season begins, we reminisce about our warm days in the sun. Fall began last week, but my mind still wanders to the adventures I had over the summer. In particular, I remember a very interesting trip to the Minoan Palace of Knossos in Crete, Greece. 

This palace has one of the oldest thrones in history and is known as the oldest city in Europe. This site also has some of the oldest flushing toilets, around four thousand years old – and remnants of it can still be seen today. Just by walking around the site, you can find pieces of very old pottery scattered in different places. This massive palace had over one thousand three hundred rooms. The tour guide I had while visiting was very passionate about the palace and the history behind it. He told us how it was a very powerful and peaceful place because they respected nature and women very highly in their society. 

But its most famous myth is that of the Minotaur, a half man half bull, that was believed to be kept below the palace in a labyrinth by King Minos, ruler of Crete. The paintings on the walls of the palace are very similar to the paintings in Egypt near the pyramids. This is because many of the Cretans were in Egypt from the 7th century B.C. and onwards. The theory of how the Minoan civilization ended was when a volcanic eruption near the island of Santorini caused a tsunami to wipe out the inhabitants of Crete.

As the sun set between a statue of bull horns, I could picture just how beautiful life was there. If you ever get the chance to visit I highly recommend that you do so and experience the same feeling of amazement.