Day 4: Thursday July 5th

~On the road again!~

Today was our second trip day!
On today's itinerary was:

• Agii Deka
• Gortyna
• Matala
• Lake Zaros

The first stop of the day was The Church of Agii Deka.  Its name refers to the Holy Ten Martyrs who were decapitated there during the Roman emperor Decius' persecution of the Christians in 250 AD. 

 These are pictures of the Church itself....

   This is the remnants of a stone column outside the Church. This was the site where the 10 Martyrs were tortured often before their eventual decapitation.

Inside the church is the cut-out of the stone where the 10 Martyrs kneeled for their decapitation. The imprint of their knees are clearly visible.

Just a little further away is the site where the 10 Martyrs' bodies were found. 

This is a picture of the underground tomb. 

When the bodies were discovered a small church and memorial was built just above the tomb in their honor.

Just outside this small church are the names of the martyrs.

This place was really cool and beautiful! It was also a little creepy due to its violent history...... 

Next stop was the Archaelogical Site of Gortyna

The first cool thing we saw here was the mythologically famous plane tree seen on the right.
According to the myth, Zeus fell in love with the Egyptian Princess Europe and transformed himself into a cow with wings to catch Europe's attention. Europe flew on the back of the amazing cow and they landed at this site. When Zeus changed back into his God form, Europe was so impressed by his power that they slept beneath this tree and she later gave birth to King Minos (the father from the story of the Minotaur). Because of this, this spot has been called the birthplace of European civilization.
It is believed that this plane tree is the tree in the story because plane trees shed their leaves every year, but this particular plane tree does not need to go through this process and instead keeps its leaves. (obviously it has something magical about it ;-) )

The second cool thing we got to see was the original Law Code of Gortyn. It's also known as the Great Code and was the civil law of the ancient city-state of Gortyn. The code is inscribed in the wall of what was some sort of public civic building of the time.

The brown building behind this amphitheater is where the current partial reconstruction of the code is housed. It is inscribed on the walls.

The code is written in a  ~~~~~>   manner when one reads. 

                                       <~~~~~

                                       ~~~~~~>    

It is written in ancient Greek (probably the Dorian Dialect). 

This is a close up of the inscription that shows the language used.

The entire code was inscribed onto blocks like these that created the long wall.

The Great Code covered many aspects including such surprising topics as rape, adultery, marriage, and divorce rights.

The last big part of this site was the church. 

This is the first church of Christianity (fun fact: it was built on Roman grounds)

The student Titus of the apostle Paul was born here in Gortyn in 12 AD.  Titus studied under Paul and he was eventually appointed by Paul as the 1st bishop of the cretan Church.

Everything here was really interesting and i enjoyed the fact that this land had experienced not only mythological ancient greek culture but also Christianity.

After driving for so long we made our way to amazing beach of Matala.

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Here is found the Roman Cemetery. However, today it is no longer a cemetery instead its just a super cool hiking spot!

Fun Fact: in the 60s/70s hippies made the caves their homes and still today there is a hippie festival that occurs every year

It a gorgeous spot! the water is so blue and clear and the rocks were a lot of fun to climb!
Yes, I climbed.
Oh, you want proof? 

 HERE'S THE PROOF! :)

We were so high that we had a gorgeous view of the whole beach and sea.

On our way home we made a quick stop at Lake Zaros. 

We had an ice cream stop and break from the car with a beautiful view of a picturesque landscape. Of course I took a picture with it!  The colors were phenomenal!!!

It was a long but awesome day! 

That's all for now!

~ αγαπώ ~