Arriving in Crete and Pacheia Amos


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May 31st 2009
Published: May 31st 2009
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Pacheia AmosPacheia AmosPacheia Amos

Pacheia Amos is a small, sleepy town of maybe 500 people, but the INSTAP Center (known as the Kentro, and where I'll be working out of for the next three weeks) is located on a hill above the town- so this is home.
This is my first blog for my stay in Crete. I'll try to do at least one a week for the next 5 or 6 weeks with pictures so you all can keep track of what I'm up to. This is also my first blog ever, so I apologize if it ends up being long, confusing or uninteresting-- so please bear with me.

I arrived in Crete on Friday afternoon, after a long trip from New York JFK, through Paris Charles De Gaulle, and Athens, finally landing in Heraklion, the capital of Crete on Friday afternoon. Almost didn't make the connection in Paris because we left JFK an hour and a half early (which, for JFK is par for the course), and my experience in Paris is a bit of a blur- probably because it consisted of me sprinting through the airport saying "Pardon!" and "Excusez-moi!" over and over. I made it onto the plance by the skin of my teeth. Unfortunately my luggage did not. It ended up arriving yesterday morning- which, all things considered, wasn't terrible.

After arriving in Heraklion I had intended to jump on a bus from there to Pacheia Amos, which is a very
Pacheia Amos from the PierPacheia Amos from the PierPacheia Amos from the Pier

Pacheia Amos is a fishing village- this morning I walked out onto the pier/breakwater for a good picture of the town.
small sea-side village where the INSTAP (the Institute for Aegean Prehistory) Center in located. I'll be working out of INSTAP on a variety of different remote sensing projects for the next three weeks, and then I'm headed to a Middle and Late Bronze Age archaeological site called Mochlos to actually do some excavating. More to come about Mochlos-- but back to the first day of travel: After struggling through some very painful conversations in mostly broken English and very little Greek with some police officers, a kiosk owner, and a very friendly security guard, I found the bus stop for the bus which would take me to Pacheia Amos. I waited for about 20 minutes for the bus, and suddenly a taxi pulled up and the driver asked where I was going and if I wanted a ride. Normally the trip to Pacheia Amos costs about 50-70 euros by taxi, and about 13 euros by bus, but since this taxi was going back in that direction empty, Yannis, the taxi driver offered to take me for 15 euros- a total bargain. I jumped in and off we went. Turns out Yannis (Greek for John, he goes by both) Soldatos, originally
Straight Up...Straight Up...Straight Up...

One of the most striking things about Crete is that the mountains appear almost immediately from the shore. The moutain range in the background boasts mountains up to 1400m high (almost 4600 ft).
from Athens, had lived in central NJ for 21 years driving buses for NJ Transit. He now runs at taxi service out of Sitia on Crete, in a sort of pseudo-retirement. He was a great guy, gave me his phone number and hoped to be able to drive me back to the airport when I return in July.

I crashed Friday night and spent most of the day yesterday catching up on sleep, trying to speak Greek with the owners of my hotel/dommatia, and hanging around the INSTAP Center checking email. Last night I went with Tom Brogan, the director at INSTAP out to Mochlos to meet the team there, go for a swim and have dinner. It was a nice night, and it was nice to speak English for an extended period of time. I'm looking forward to spending a few weeks with them at the end of the trip.

My actual work starts tomorrow- we'll be surveying a few sites with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and mapping out a few locations with a differential GPS (that is a GPS which is accurate to within 5 mm). My last project before heading to Mochlos at the end
The KentroThe KentroThe Kentro

The Institute for Aegean Prehistory, Center for South East Crete (INSTAP SEC)- my base for the next few weeks
of June, will be mapping the inside of a cave site which was occupied in the Neolithic i.e. the very end of the "Stone Age". We'll be using a laser scanner-- nicknamed a "Cloud Scanner"-- which will be able to basically map the walls, floor and ceiling of the cave by locating thousands of pixel points in 3D. I've never actually used one before (although have seen them in action)- they're amazing, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

Hope everything is well with you all. I'll check in in about a week.
Be well,
Jeff

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3rd June 2009

This is Great!
How cool is this! Jeff - I love it - I am looking forward to traveling and exploring with you through your blog! I have never been to Crete but it looks absolutely beautiful and the weather seems gorgeous in your pics - what is the temp there? Is it as beautiful as the pics?
15th June 2009

Hey Aunt Betsy-- The weather is great-- well, depending on what you're up to... for the beach, it's fantastic- not too humid, lots of sun (it almost never rains in the summer time) about 85 to 95 degrees fahrenheit. But, when you're excavating or working on site, it can be a little hot. Luckily the site I will be spending most of my excavation time at, Mochlos, is an island, so at lunch I can probably take a dip in the water. Crete is really a beautiful place-- much greener than mainland Greece or Cyprus--I'm hoping to explore more (like some upland plateaus and mountains that actually still have snow on them) if I can figure out renting a car...so more to come!

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