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the Degree Confluence Project
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Greece

7.4 km (4.6 miles) N of Nisís Gavdopoúla (Island), Kríti, Greece
Approx. altitude: 0 m (0 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 35°S 156°W

Accuracy: 18 m (59 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Captain Peter in front the Wailing Wall and the al-Aqsā Mosque in Jerusalem #3: GPS #4: View to SE from the confluence with Gavdhopoúla and Gávdhos

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  35°N 24°E  

#1: Ghavdopoúla Islet seen from the confluence towards South

(visited by Captain Peter and Leon Leprozo)

06-Apr-2004 -- A two days ago we have left Israel with 2500 tons of potatoes and oranges for England and Belgium. As every time when I am in Israel, a visit to Jerusalem was mandatory, in order to deposit my wishes written on a piece of paper in one of the gaps of the Wailing Wall. Health, Peace, a long life, financial wealth, many confluences ... the list was quite long this time.

Today we are passing already the Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands.

35N 24E is close to two small islands, namely Gávdhos and Gavdhopoúla.

Gávdhos, which in ancient times was named Clauda, is cliffy on its south side and attains an elevation of 368 m. The north side is low and shelving.

Gavdhopoúla is a small islet and 113 m high.

A look towards SE shows us both Gavdhopoúla (right) and Gávdhos (left).

The visibility was rather hazy, and so we could not make out the coast of Crete, although it is only a 30 km away, high and usually very well visible from this area.

Crete is of course famous for many things, but in ancient mythology it is the island where the evil Minotauros did live.

Minotauros was the son of Queen Pasiphae and King Minos of Crete and was born as a freaky fabulous beast. He had a bull's head and a human body, and it is not difficult to guess that poor Minos could impossibly have been the natural father.

And indeed, Pasiphae previously had been fallen in love with a god, which appeared to her as a white bull. The result of this extramarital relation was the freaky, - but nevertheless divine -, monster Minotauros, representing for the cuckolded husband shame and misfortune, but on the other hand Minotaurus was an object of amazement, astonishment and even adoration, too.

Minos, however, wanted to ensure Minotauros to disappear out of his and his wife's sight, and so he took care he vanished from the public life - and this immediately and forever.

And he succeeded. He ordered Daedalus, owing him still a favor, to construct a building for Mintotauros, serving as jail, hideaway and temple simultaneously. And so Daedalus built the Labyrinth - a complicated system of intricate and tortuous alleyways, in which centre the monster was supposed to lodge. The idea behind the labyrinth was it to be easy to reach the centre, but as good as impossible to find the way out again.

So Minotauros disappeared in the labyrinth and found the centre as intended. And as planned as well - he did no longer find the way out. So Minotaurus settled down in the centre of the labyrinth and was expecting the human sacrifices brought to him in regular intervals, for he was a divine being and thus entitled to sacrifices.

Pasiphae and Minos were again living in peace and subsequently they got other children, two of which were Androgeos and Ariadne.

Androgeos became a famous hero, and Ariadne was known for her beauty. On the occasion of one of his numerous heroic deeds, - a fight with a bull - , Androgeos got killed and King Minos in his desperation blamed the King of Athens for the death of his son. Minos declared war on Athens and won. As a reparation he demanded Athens to supply every nine years each seven boys and seven girls in order to sacrifice them to Minotauros. The son of the King of Athens, Theseus, reported voluntarily as a sacrifice when he was eighteen years of age and went to Crete. There he met Ariadne, which fell in love with him at first sight. In order to enable Theseus to find the way back out, Ariadne gave him a coil of cotton thread - the famous "Ariadne's Thread", which he uncoiled when proceeding to the centre of the labyrinth. The other end of the coil he fixed at the entrance of the labyrinth. Theseus found the sleeping monster and killed it. Of course he could find the way back to the entrance without any problem, by simply coiling up the thread again when following its track.

I believe it is a true story, for the ruins of the Labyrinth have been found by archaeologists on Crete. The thread, however, has disappeared, as after killing the monster there was no longer any use of it.


Information about Gávdhos and Gavdhopoúla obtained from Nautical Publication Nr. 49, Mediterranean Pilot, Vol V, 7th ed. 1999, Hydrographer of the Navy, Taunton, England)


 All pictures
#1: Ghavdopoúla Islet seen from the confluence towards South
#2: Captain Peter in front the Wailing Wall and the al-Aqsā Mosque in Jerusalem
#3: GPS
#4: View to SE from the confluence with Gavdhopoúla and Gávdhos
ALL: All pictures on one page
  Notes
In the sea, but with a good view straight North of a peak on Crete (on a clear day)