Onto Aptera
June 12 2026 - wildflowers, ruins, and stuff
Driving up to Aptera.. so very dry. We were told this is a pretty delicate ecosystem, especially up on the higher mountains, and they are all protected areas.
Wildflowers and a sign. I've learned that when you're busy traveling, and more importantly, traveling with busy or just incurious people, you have to take pictures of the signs of info and keep running, with the hope you'll read it later.
"The ancient Aptera is one of the most important city-states in Crete. It is already referred to in the linear B tablets (14th-13th century BCE). Its excellent location has proved ideal for its development into a powerful commercial and political centre. Its two harbors, Minoa (present Marathi), and Kissamos at both sides of the entrances of the Souda bay secured the control of naval activity.
In the 4th c. BCE, as most independent cities of Crete, it was capable to mint its own coin. The era of its greatest peak was during the Hellenistic period. According to the epigraphic and philological testimonies, the city has developed foreign relationships with the large centers of the Hellenistic territory during the 3rd and 2nd cent. BCE.
During the Roman period, as a result of the enforcement of the "roman peace", the city experiences a new period of peak which is verified by the big public buildings preserved until today.
The city continued to be inhabited until the Byzantine period (7th cent. AD), when it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. To its final destruction contributed the Saracens pirates' raids.
In the 11 cent. AD, the existence of the monastery of St. John the Theologian is reported at this site. The monastery was founded at a central part of the ancient city and functioned until 1962."
Abandoned monastery but hey there were interesting public restrooms, for which we were grateful.
It was so dry.
Papaver
The ancient Roman baths - or was it the cistern? If memory serves, men were allowed in at certain times, and women at other times, but kept entirely separate.
Incredibly old olive tree.
