Heraklion or Iraklion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece.
The city’s name derives from the ancient Roman port of Heracleum, which likely occupied the same site. As the capital of Saracen Crete in the 9th century CE, it took the Arabic name Khandaq (“Moat”), which was corrupted to Candia by the Venetians, to whom the island was sold in 1204. Most of the extensive system of walls built around the city by the Venetians survives.
In 1669 the city was ceded to the Turks after a siege of more than 20 years. During the long Turkish occupation, which ended in 1897, Candia was known as Megalokastro. The Turks permitted its harbour to silt up, and the port of Chaniá (Khaniá; historically Canea), future capital of Crete, took over Megalokastro’s former commercial preeminence. Turkish rule ended after an insurrection (1897) by the Greek population, demanding union with Greece. The city was part of the international protectorate of Crete (1897–1913) and then became part of Greece. During the 1941 German airborne invasion of Crete in World War II, the city suffered heavy damage from bombing.
The Koules or Castello a Mare ("Fort on the Sea" in Italian) is a fortress located at the entrance of the old port of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. It was built by the Republic of Venice in the early 16th century, and is still in good condition today.
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one of the oldest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most famous museums in Europe. It houses representative artefacts from all periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering a chronological span of over 5,500 years from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The Heraklion Archaeological Museum prides itself for its unique Minoan collection, which includes the masterpieces of Minoan art. It is rightly considered as the Museum of Minoan Culture par excellence.
Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city.
Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete. The palace of Knossos eventually became the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, c. 1380–1100 BC; the reason is unknown, but one of the many disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward.
In its peak, the palace and surrounding city boasted a population of 100,000 people shortly after 1700 BC.
Eastern part of Crete...
Nicknamed as the island of the living dead, Spinalonga, lies at the natural harbor of Elounda in the prefecture of Lassithi.
Spinalonga remained under Venetian rule even after the rest of Crete was occupied by the Ottomans. In 1715, however, the Ottomans managed to conquer the small island, banishing the Venetian presence from Crete completely. Eventually, in 1903, the Turkish left the island and it became once again a part of Greece.
Despite its rich heritage that stretches all the way back to antiquity, however, Spinalonga is known across the world as the host of the leper community from 1903 to 1957, and as one of the last active leper colonies in Europe, reaching a number of nearly 400 inhabitants during the outbreak of the illness.
The palm beach of Vai is one of the largest attractions of the Mediterranean island of Crete.
For tourism Vai was discovered at the beginning of the 1970s at the end of that decade it was popularised by the last hippies who fled the hot-spots Matala and Preveli. At the beginning of the 1980s Vai was full of backpacker tourists from the whole world, leading to a mixture of chaotic campground and garbage dump. Vai was enclosed and declared as a protected area. The unique forest recovered, the beach became clean.
Continue your journey :
- Islands of the Dodecanese is here - Central Greece and Corfu island is here - For lovers of archeological sites... i.e."old stones" is here - On the road and in town, drink and food, campsites is here
