Today we visited Akrotiri, an archaeological site of an ancient culture dating almost 2000 years (1600 BC) BEFORE Delos and before Pompeii (79 AD) which we saw yesterday. Our visit was made all the remarkable due to our excellent local guide, Hara.

She spoke of an amazing, advanced culture which raised up the status of women so much that portraits of women were pictured with white skin while men were shown in black. Women were dominant while men were subservient.

Consequently it was a time of peace, and we know that because artwork of the time depicted no war scenes. By the way, it was at this time that artists started using the technique of using perspective to draw three-dimensional objects. One lady was even pictured as having a double chin! Another woman had painted fingernails!

What if today women ruled the world?! It would all be a different place!

It was a society of great wealth even though there was no currency. There was much trade on an economy based on saffron, which even today is the most expensive spice in the world.

So—what was the most exciting object the archaeologists found?! A personal toilet, the equivalent of sitting on the throne! One in which you could take your time and relax. The toilet was located in the third floor of the house so waste would be carried away by gravity.

At Akrotiri, there was a tremendous volcanic eruption which destroyed the village. Unlike Pompeii there were no human remains meaning the people had some advance warning, possibly by a series of earthquakes, with time to evacuate.

We also visited a village where there were two churches on the top of the mountain.

There was a quick stop at the hotel, then we took off for a six hour catamaran cruise.