Excursion to Knossos

Photo report

Rest day at the European Team Chess Championship was used for excursion to Knossos, one of the largest Bronze Age archaeological sites on the world. Some 120 players and coaches got on the buses to eventually spend 40 minutes in Knossos, under guidance by professional tourist agency.

Main western plateau in Knossos

Ritual west wall (original)

Western gate (reconstructed)

Tour guide in action

Crowd listening carefully

Southern chambers

Huge pots used for storage. Most of them were higher than Minoans who built them and it is still a mystery how they moved them around.

Tronning room (original)

Peacock in the improvised zoo

Next stop was nearby city of Heraklion, the capitol of Creta. Heart of the town, located within the old Venice fortress, is still preserving original narrow streets.

Cafes all over the walking area

You always get plenty of cookies when ordering coffee on Creta

Tournament secretary Maria Petsetidi with Chessdom team

Upon the return to Creta Maris, most of us hit the restaurant and then the beach.

Maybe you can't recognize them, but those are GM Pavel Tregubov, captain of the French team, and Mikhail Kobalija, coach of the Russian team. They were swimming more than 500 meters to reach the lonely rock, and only powerful zoom helped us take the picture.