Gortys, also known as Gortyna, was the chief city of Crete during the Roman period.
The site was large and spread out, as the city walls were said to be six miles long. We visited this Odeon area with a small theatre. The building behind was the Court, and contains the Roman Law Code inscribed on the walls.
This is what remains of the Basilica of St. Titus, built in the Christian era AD, and marks the site where he was martyred.
This is what remains on the other side of the Basilica. It was destroyed by the Arabs in 824.
According to Greek legend, Zeus married Europa under a tree in Gortys, but probably not one of these two, although they were huge.
Next came lunch, as a restaurant in the touristy and hippie town of Metala.
This is the view from the left side of the restaurant.
And this is the view from the right side. Those are caves in the rocks, right near the lovely sandy beach.
A little shopping followed lunch.
A visit to the site of the ancient Minoan palace of Phaistos was next. It dates to 1990 BC, and was destroyed around 1700 BC.
The roofing protects ongoing archaelogical research.
This is a copy (which I bought) of a large disk found at Phaistos, with writing still undeciphered.
This is a view of the Messara plain, from Phaistos. There are wind turbines on the hill.
Not a cloud in the sky all day, and for most of the two weeks as well.
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