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 Palace of KnossosThe Palace of Knossos is a few kilometers south of Iraklion and easily accessable by bus or taxi, but should be seen as early as possible or in the off-season. The ruins are extensive and facinating and should be enjoyed at a time when you are not suffering from the heat or trampled by the crowds. Among the ruins, beautiful frescos and giant pithoi are the remains of the world's first flush toilet.The Palace of Knossos receives about a million visitors a year, second only to the Acropolis, and like many of the monuments of ancient times, it is suffering from the onslaught of tourism. These gifts from ancient civilizations have stood the test of time but won't last forever. Value and respect what you see, for it is a real treasure. Archaeology Magazine Describes Modern War in Crete by Aurelia The relationship in central Crete between the tourist industry and the "Ephors" or directors charged with preserving prehistoric Minoan sites such as Knossos, Mallia and Phaistos, is slowly cracking, along with the concrete used by Sir Arthur Evans to re-build the palaces. This struggle is vividly described in a recent issue of "Archaeology" and it is written in an engaging fashion by Spencer P.M. Harrington, the magazine's senior editor. 
Mr. Harrington interviewed Alexandra Karetsou, Ephor of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities in Central Crete. While she acknowledges how the discovery of the Minoan culture brought prosperity to Crete, she describes with great frustration the problems and erosion to the palaces caused by the tourist industry which brings 5,000 people from tour boats to Knossos during a single three-hour period. This is compounded by the pressures from developers and homeowners on Crete who believe they have the right to build whatever and wherever they want. Ms. Karetsou lamented, "In Greece, protecting our culture and monuments should be a matter of love. In reality it's a matter of war." Knossos draws more tourists to Greece than any other archeological site except the Acropolis and it is estimated that more than 1 million tourists a year make the pilgrimage. As the tourists walk up the grand staircase and explore the many chambers of the great palaces, erosion occurs naturally. This is exacerbated by the fact that the original materials used by Evans—soft limestone, sandstone, and gypsum—will simply dissolve in two or three hundred years, according to Mr. Harrington. 
The article points out that while the ruins at Knossos are not dramatic like pyramids nor as well preserved as the temples at Agrigento, they are remarkable for revealing a multitude of activity—political, religious, commercial, and domestic—that took place within one structure. John McEnroe, a Minoan architectural specialist, described it as "encompassing the breadth and depth of its culture more eloquently than any other single building in the history of European architecture." This building, which covers nearly five acres, is now in danger of erosion. Sandy MacGillivray, who wrote Evans' biography, explains that Evans made a serious mistake when he put steel-reinforced concrete on top of ancient material, thereby creating a massive load that is not distributed properly and is causing ancient foundations to crumble. Compounding the problem is the fact, according to MacGillivray, that water has seeped into the exposed concrete rusting the steel bars inside and causing concrete to fall from the bottom of roof beams, causing hazards for tourists and perhaps the collapse of the structures. 
Alexandra Karetsou is quoted in the article as explaining that more than one-half of the complex is now off-limits. She points out that the Grand Staircase, the jewel in the reconstructed Domestic Quarter, is now closed because the thousands of visitors caused the stairs to crumble and resemble a ramp. She elaborates: "It was not just the steps that were suffering, but the side walls as well. It was the colonnade that flanks the staircase. It was everything in this narrow space because people touch everywhere. Without any organized pathway, people went up and down not because they had to, but because they didn't know otherwise." She explained that the domestic quarter is now entirely closed, but visitors can view the staircase and different rooms in the residential area from several vantage points outside it. Ms. Karetsou said more than half the damage has been caused by "an illogical use of the site" because visitors come without guides and often get lost and climb over ancient walls and go through passages that are too narrow." In the article, Ms. Karetsou says that a major problem is that so many tour ships arrive at the same time with thousands of tourists disembarking. Yannis Tzedakis, Director of Archaeology at the Greek Ministry of Culture, said if tour operators were asked to make reservations they would protest and take their groups elsewhere. "They can always say if we don't do things their way they will skip Herakleion and go to Turkey," he said. 
Angela Varela, a representative for the Ministry of Tourism, said "Greece is a democratic country and it is against the principles of this country to prevent tourists from visiting the site." The author talks about archeologists who worked at Knossos in the late 1950's and early 1960's who say the site received few visitors. He said for them the arrival of a cruise ship was a rare sight that "made local news." "There were few hotels there then and only a few modest homes with no indoor plumbing." When tourists started to arrive in the late 1960's, Mr. Harrington explains, Cretans were quick to realize that hotels and restaurants were a "more profitable use of their land than farming and many were soon serving coffee and turning down sheets instead of cultivating grapes and olives." The islanders then grew wealthy, he says, and started building hotels along the north coast. When developers began encroaching upon the land near coastal archaeological sites, land use was restricted and landowners became "furious." Now archaeologist from the mainland are in the uncomfortable position of telling islanders how they can and cannot develop their land, Mr. Harrington explains. 
Today Herakleion is a city of 102,000 residents with bustling commerce. Harrington says Greeks who knew Crete in the 1960's don't recognize it today. The prosperity has been described as "sudden and jarring" with families "making the transition from donkey to Mercedes in the space of a generation." Harrington describes Herakleion today as "having a swank downtown area." He goes on, "the cafes at the corner of Ioannis Perdikari and Androgeo streets are elegantly decorated, and by 1 p.m. are full of fashionable young people sipping Nescafe frappes and playing backgammon. With its relaxed pace and array of upscale shops, the city has the feel of a vile bourgeoisie. On a recent trip, I wandered into a Herakleion rug shop and mentioned that, even in the off-season, the town was full of tourists. The proprietor laughed, saying in August there were ten times as many tourists." 
One solution to managing the herds of tourists is to create roped off pathways that will distance visitors from buildings that are in danger of crumbling. Another solution is to reinforce the restorations created by Evans. Mr. Harrington said this is viewed as "a temporary fix" for a much more massive project dismantling Evans' cracking concrete beams and erecting new beams, but he cautions that this must await funding and exhaustive cataloguing of structural materials. Harrington says conservation is "a Sisyphean task, but one that must proceed. The hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Knossos deserve a chance, albeit momentary, to commune with the world of the Minoans," he concludes.
Click here to visit Hotels in Iraklion Click here to visit Hotels in Iraklion Area 
This article is by Aurelia, author of A Lone Red Apple. It's a fabulous novel set in Mykonos and Delos in the Greek Islands, and Greenwich, England. It makes a perfect read for your trip to Greece, or anytime you want to escape with a good book. Find out more about Aurelia's first novel, and buy the book at Amazon.com.
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