Crete is a place of incredible historical significance and I am enormously jealous that you got to visit there.
Crete was the home of the ancient Minoan civilization, the earliest true civilization in what would eventually become the Greek world. While the people on mainland Greece were still in the Stone Age or only just barely past it, the Minoans were a thriving Bronze Age Civilization.
The Minoan kingdom lasted from around 2600 BCE up until around 1100 BCE, which pretty much exactly coincides with the era that all of the great Greek Myths took place in. The Minoan civilization fell for not well understood reasons right around the time the Trojan War occurred, which is more or less the turning point where Greek Myth turns into Greek History.
Some of the oldest written language in the world was unearthed at Crete. With the famous Linear A and B tablets representing the most primitive known forms of the Greek language.
In any event, I'm a bit of an Ancient Greece nerd, so Crete is a place I would dearly like to visit one day.
Oh wow, what a write up! I wish you were my tour guide out there when I was checking out all the historical places of interest!
I had little to no knowledge previously of how much culture and history there actually was in Crete until my visit there. It's astounding for a small Island to have that much going on from before.
Thank you so much for that brief but highly educational history lesson. Much appreciated. :)