Welcome To Crete Chapter 5

A Chapter by Repgreece

Adam is impressed with fay

The archaeological site was set on a small side road off the main highway. They left the car and headed down a gravel path to the ticket booth but realised when they got there that it was closed.

Adam turned to Fay then with a furious expression. "Can't you get anything right?"

She glared at him and walked away, shouting, "Will you just shut up and follow me."

He watched her walk further down the path with surprise, eventually following her as she turned a corner by a wall and disappeared out of sight. When he caught up with her he realised that they were already in the site and he looked up to see the remains of the ancient city towering above. They were standing at the foot of a great path of steps leading up a hill which was organized in terraces and presumably divided the different areas of the city.

"Wow, impressive!" he gasped, turning to speak to her. "Are we the only people here?"

"Most probably at this time of year but it is often quite popular for school trips now and again in the winter months." He watched her gazing up at the city, following her as she began to progress up the steps.

"And in the summer?" he asked.

"The children here have longer holidays than the children in Britain so by the time most of the tourists arrive the school trips have usually finished," she explained.

She stopped suddenly and turned around to face him with an animated expression on her face.

"You know I think that is what makes this place so special. It isn't that well known by the tourists and if we brought people here we could make the trip really unique," she smiled. His face still had a look of surprise about it and his eyes surveyed her intently. She moved then and resumed her climb up the steps.

They passed a series of broken, rocky walls and eventually came to an area where it was possible to work out the rooms of a building which had once been there.

"This was the bakery," Fay announced, pointing to a number of flat stones in one of the sections. "See those? The people made their bread on those around three thousand years ago." She climbed over a low, crumbling wall and crouched down next to the stones, running a hand over one. Then she turned to him and reached out to grab his hand, bringing him down to her level. "Here, touch it," she urged him. She put his hand on the smooth flat stone. "See, it's smoother than the other stones because it was used so frequently for bread making."

He'd never before seen anyone so fascinated and engrossed in something as simple as a stone. He turned to look at her face but she was oblivious to him. Then, realising that she still had hold of his hand, she abruptly let go and stood up. He joined her and they continued to climb higher up into the site.

"Three thousand years ago eh," he whistled. "That's hard to imagine!"

"Well to give you some idea, it was just before the time that Caesar first attempted an invasion of Britain."

"Really!" he looked surprised.

"Yes, but actually that isn't very old compared to other ancient cities we have here on Crete. Obviously the most famous and impressive is the Palace of Knossos which was Minoan and another two thousand years older than this," she informed him.

"Wow, how old does it get?" he said, glancing around in awe. Her face broke into a smile and she began to laugh at his lack of understanding of the subject.

"Adam, if you go much further back you'll be in the prehistoric period," she said over her shoulder.

"Yes Mam! You know you reminded me of one of my old school teachers then," he chuckled.

She pulled a face. "Hey, less of the old!"

He laughed and ran in front of her, blocking her way. "So this Palace of Knossos, should we not be including a trip there then? Since it's so considerably old."

"Old and impressive. Yes, it's a must for anyone travelling to Crete but it's a lot busier there."

"Oh," he said, putting an arm over her shoulder and turning them around to resume their walk. "So I wouldn't be getting the personal treatment there then."

Her eyes widened at his familiarity and she looked down at his hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, you would... from an official Knossos guide," she stressed.

He grinned down at her. "Ah, but I prefer this one." A slight frown flickered across her face then and she moved forward suddenly to free herself from his arm.

On their way to the top Fay pointed out the various rooms and areas. The Stoa, where she asked him to look at the paved floor and imagine the people's feet walking along the same path that he was, the dining hall, where she described the food they would have eaten, and finally they reached the agora at the top of the hill.

"This was the market place and Public Square, it would have been one of the busiest areas of the city with crowds of people, like a town centre," she explained. " Notice that it's at the highest point, and most well defended. There would have also been a political assembly here and there is a Prytaneion, or conference room, over there." He looked at her in astonishment at how much she knew on the subject and how she managed to bring to life, what at first glace seemed to be, an area of old rocks.

"The view is pretty spectacular here too," she said, gazing out over the olive groves that covered the hills below. "This is why the city was built here, because it was so inaccessible to invaders." He took her by the shoulders then and turned her around to face him. His face broke into a huge smile.

"What?" she asked, watching his expression.

Why was he grinning like that?

She frowned. "Am I boring you?"

He searched her face. "On the contrary, I'm speechless! I'm just wondering how I'm going to convince you to guide the trips for me."

She shrugged his comment off and turned her head away to look at the view again. "There'll be plenty of willing people to do that for you in the summer months."

He moved in front of her then, determined to get her attention. "Yes but I'm not looking at 'plenty of willing people', I'm looking at you selling me this trip. And I've got to tell you Fay; I'm sold! You've got an enthusiasm that's pretty addictive." She became suddenly unnerved by his proximity and the compliments he was now showering her with.

She put her hands on her hips. "Oh, so I can get something right then."

His eyes moved over her face and he put out a hand to brush aside a stray strand of blonde hair which blew across her cheek.

"I stand corrected," he smiled. Her eyes suddenly became hostile and her voice reverted back to sarcasm as she moved around him.

"Well, that concludes the tour of the site for today then," she said, making her way back down the steps and leaving him staring after her.