Lauren & Randall Wander Through Greece: Dikteon Andron

Zeus' origin story begins in Crete. As a baby, his mother hid him from his father, who wanted to destroy all threats to his rule. Two caves claim ownership of that hiding place--Mt. Ida and Mt. Dikteon. Each have varying groups making pilgrimages and offerings to the god for favor or intervention. King Minos favored Mt. Ida, and in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, there are all manner of offerings of armor and weapons to ensure his continued flowering rule. It would seem that the general populace went to Mt. Dikteon, where hoards of clay statues were left in tribute. So, not being of the ruling class, we went to Mt. Dikteon.

Now, I had done my homework on this site before we left for Greece. Did I need to bring certain shoes? Would the spelunking be exceptionally challenging? How long should we plan for such an expedition? It turns out there is just enough information available online to get a sense of what to expect, and a wealth of information missing.

There was a lot of talk about free parking v. paid parking, and the rates from the summer tourist season v. the off season. Fine. As long as we can park, 4€ was not going to break us. There was also discussion about the 800m trek to the mouth of the cave from the parking lot, and that the path could be slippery if even a little wet. Also fine. We had been hiking miles for the past few days and the day we went it was clear and warm, if a little hot. There were also burros, and much controversy surrounding the exploitation of these animals.

What they ALL failed to mention was the fact that the incline could be around 15° grade with multiple near 45° switchbacks to get from 875m to 1025m in elevation, and that the last 150m went up and across an uneven, but rounded through wear, irregular rock field. Randall (not the lawyer) made the observation that if this existed in the US, it would have been sued out of existence. As it was Darwinism, and perhaps a sunk cost fallacy that we had already gotten this far made everyone keep going. Randall's second observation afterward was that they do not collect the 4€ entrance fee until you get to the top. Woe to those who forget their wallets. By the time we made it to the mouth and confronted the additional 220 step descent, and naturally, ascent, that was the least of our problems. We knew we'd have to cross that minefield again, now with gravity working "with" us. The word "allegedly" has been bandied quite a bit this trip, not always by me!