⭐ Travel Guide for Island Crete ⛵, Greece❗

Heraklion is the largest city in Crete with a population of about 200.000. Heraklion houses the public services and the major scientific centers of Crete, being the commercial center of the island with the main port and airport.

From a scenic city with unique traditional Venetian and Ottoman monuments in the early 1900s, as one of the most historical cities in the Mediterranean, Heraklion, unfortunately, turned into a bustling cement-dominating city, losing almost all of its aristocratic splendor. This bad development was a result of the need for rapid expansion of the city for the settling of the refugees after the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1922), but also from the effort to "modernize" Heraklion by turning the beautiful old buildings into blocks of flats.

However, even today the visitor can get a good taste of the glorious image of the past, while the locals can be surprised by the unknown corners of Heraklion and the story hidden behind them.

The history of Heraklion starts in the Minoan era, as it was the port of the legendary city of Knossos. However, the city in its present location (the old center) was built in 824 by the Arabs and later expanded and fortified by the Venetians and the Turks, who named it as the Large Castle of Candia. The current name Heraklion was given after the liberation of Crete from the Turks in 1898.

Minos Palace in Knossos

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Knossos was the most important city on Crete before the Roman Era and the center of the first brilliant European civilization, the Minoan. The palace of King Minos is the most visited archaeological site in Crete with more than 1.000.000 visitors per year.

Koules Fort (Rocca al Mare)

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The imposing medieval fortress of Koules still stands at the beginning of the western breakwater of the modern port of Heraklion. Its real name is Rocca al Mare, named so by its Venetian founders. Koules, or the Great Koules like it is called, was not the sole ruler of the port.

Nikos Kazantzakis Grave

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The grave of the important Cretan writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) is located at the highest point of the Walls of Heraklion, the Martinengo Bastion, with panoramic views to the ugly, but also historical, concrete jungle of Heraklion.

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion

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The collection of the Minoan antiquities in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion is the largest in the world and the museum is considered the main Museum of Minoan civilization. It is classified as one of the largest and most remarkable museums in Greece and one of the most important in Europe.

Byzantine Collection of St Catherine

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The Museum of Byzantine Icons and Relics of Archdiocese of Crete is located in the Venetian church of St. Catherine of Sinai, in the center of Heraklion and next to the cathedral of Saint Minas.

Natural History Museum of Crete

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The Natural History Museum of University of Crete demonstrates with an impressive and innovative manner the natural environment of the eastern Mediterranean with a special emphasis on Greece and Crete.

Villa Ariadne

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The Villa Ariadne was built in 1906 to reside archaeologist Arthur Evans and during the Second World War housed the German commander of Crete. Here was signed the delivery of Crete to the Allies.

Jesus Gate (Kenourgia Porta)

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Gate of Jesus or New Gate (Kenourgia Porta) was built on the south side of the Venetian Walls, in today's Evans Street, in 1587. From this gate left those who were heading to the southern provinces of the county. The gate also hosted the pipeline which supplied water to the city.

Heraklion

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion

Koules Fort

Knossos Palace

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