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Greek myths: visiting the palace of Knossos

I longed to visit the palace of Knossos as a child, fascinated by Greek mythology and the so-called sandals. These movies were a classic in my summer afternoons during summer vacation. There was always some unclothed hero or demi-god fighting with ugly and evil monsters.

Going to Crete in winter, besides avoiding the crowds, allows you to admire the snow-capped mountains close by on the sea. But in Rethymno a downpour stranded me at the hotel. It was to be the intermediate stop before visiting the palace of Knossos, which I reached by bus, but saw nothing.

Crete is the setting for some of the most famous mythological stories, including those involving

• The birth of Zeus
• Daedalus and Icarus
• Theseus and Ariadne
• The Minotaur

In particular, walking through the palace of Knossos means stepping on the site where the legend of the labyrinth inhabited by the monster, Minotaur, half bull and half man, is set.

New Greek friend

The two full days I did in Heraklion were characterized by meeting and spending several hours together with a new friend whom I met through a popular travel app. Sometimes I find myself reflecting that living in the provinces is a bit of a squeeze for me, as people’s mentality tends to be more closed-minded than it can be in a big city.

With the Greek girl it was very interesting to confront this. On an island, which moreover out of season is sparsely inhabited, this is even more evident and in particular it is very difficult to have a nontraditional sexual orientation. Getting to know her was also helpful because although it was not planned, I slept at her place on the second night, avoiding the dilapidated hostel dormitory. After a month or so she came to see me, we had also assumed other meetings, but just the following week the covid mess began and we lost contact.

Home set of travel The scent of the Mediterranean islands

Previous stop Visiting Crete in winter, a cat does the bidet

Next stop Visiting Cyprus by car and playing hide-and-seek

Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent

Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives

Countries visited in my travel stories

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Fabio Viroli

Ho sempre avuto tante passioni, ma da sempre più o meno latenti, le principali sono viaggiare e scrivere. Tra le altre cose ho una laurea in psicologia; ho fatto per più di 30 anni l’allenatore di basket; leggo tanti libri; sono stato molto appassionato di sport e di musica rock; e faccio improvvisazione teatrale

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