The Minoan Civilization and the Knossos Palace [antikvár]

The island of Crete is one of the most important islands of the world, and beyond doubt the most important in the whole East It lies in the middle of the Mediterranean, indeed of the whole world, because it is equally distant from Asia, Africa and Europe. This position makes it suitable to be the capital of the world From a report of the Venetian nobleman Juano Mocenigo to the Most Serene Republic of Venice, in the year 1589Land and natureThanks to the infinite variety as well as to the rich and origi-nal beauty of its landscape, Crete is a truly ravishing island. It is dominated by three lofty mountains (the White Mountains in the west, Ida in the middle and Dikte in the east of the island) the massive bulks of which are divided into several lower ranges with dense forests, deep ravines, fertile plateaus and an occasional cave on their slopes. Passages connecting those various regions are almost everywhere. There are several not very wide plains with a considerable yield in crops, fertilized by a constant flow of water originating from the mountain snows, which in some places are perennial.This diverse physical formation results in a varied climate as well as in abundant and multifarious crops, different from one region to another. Today the island produces wine, cereals, honey, oil, raisins, all kinds of citrus fruits, chestnuts, apples, cherries and figs, tomatoes and bananas. There are also palm-trees.