Local Information

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth in size of all the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the most southern point of Europe. It lies at the Southern Aegean Sea and at the crossroads of three continents Europe, Asia and Africa. Crete covers an area of 8.336 sq.kms. The length of the island is 260 km, but the shore-length is 1.046 km. The biggest width is 60 km from the Dion cape to the Lithinon cape, while the smallest is 12 km and is called "isthmus of Ierapetra". 

A high mountain range crosses the island from West to East, formed by three different groups of mountains.  To the West the White Mountains (2.452 m), in the middle the mountain of Idi (Psiloritis-2.456 m) and to the East the mountain of Dikti (2.148 m). These mountains gifted Crete with fertile plateaus like Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha, caves like Diktaion and Idaion cave and the famous Gorge of Samaria. 

Administratively, the island is divided into four Prefectures which from west to east are: the Prefecture of Hania, with Hania as the capital, the Prefecture of Rethymnon, with Rethymnon as the capital, the Prefecture of Heraklion, with Heraklion as the capital, and the Prefecture of Lassithi, with Agios Nikolaos as the capital. 

A  place with a great history from ancient times, Crete offers visitors a priceless wealth of findings of all the civilizations that flourished on the island in its museums and in its archeological sites. The island is full of relics of the Minoan ages the most famous being the palaces at Knossos and Phaistos. 

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About Heraklion .....

Heraklion is the largest town in Crete (over 100.000 inhabitants), and  the administrative capital of the entire island. All this was certainly contributed to by its geographical position. It lies almost in the middle of the north coast, just outside Knossos, has one of the most important museums in the world, and is close to the most interesting archaeological areas: Phaistos, Ayia Triada, Gortyn and Malia. It is a city of modern architecture, as it was rebuilt after the Battle of Crete (1941). 
There are still a few buildings which remind us of the important role the city played in the history of the island. The rule of the Venetians is evident here with the Loggia, the fortification of Heraklion, the Basilica of St. Marcos(1239), the fountain of Morosini (1628) and the Venetian Walls (3km long) as well as numerous castles throughout the area. There is the imposing Cathedral of Ayios Minas with the old Ayios Minas next to it. There are also Ayia Aikaterini of Sinai, which operates as a museum, where the paintings of the famous painter Michael Damaskinos are kept, the tomb of  famous Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis on the Mertinengo Bastion of the walls and the Historical and Ethnological Museum.

The Archaeological Museum is one of the most outstanding museums in the world. It contains findings from all over Crete, focused primarily on the prehistoric Minoan civilization, a civilization that ruled the island for over 1,200 years. Its 20 rooms are found on Eleftheria Square. 

In the  prefecture of Heraklion  you can find also unique samples of ecclesiastic architecture and the monasteries of Vrontissio, and Valsamonero as well as the church of Ag. Titos (which most probably was built after the arrival of Nikephoros Fokas (961)) must be visited. 

The town is linked by air to Athens and Thessaloniki. In the summer months there are frequent flights to Santorini, Paros, Mykonos & Cyprus and also charter flights which link it to many European cities. The town is linked by sea to the port of Piraeus, to several of the Islands of the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, to Cyprus, Italy and Israel. Local and regional buses run between the town and a variety of destinations both within the province and beyond. 
You can find more information regarding transportation click here. 
A map of  Heraklion town can be founded here.
For a weather  forecast  click here.

 Museums of Heraklion

• The Archeological Museum, with very significant findings, which place it second in importance only to the Archeological Museum of Athens.
• The Historical Museum of Crete
• The Collection of Byzantine icons, in the church of St. Aikaterini, built in 1555.
• Collection of Aghios Matthaios (St.Mathew) of Sinai at Heraklion
• Kazantzakis Museum
• Municipal Museum of the Battle of Crete and the National Resistance
• Museum of Cretan Ethnology
  
   

 

 

 

 

 

Useful  phones in Heraklion

• Telephone code : 

• Police :

• Port Police :

• Municipality :

• Hospital :

• Archaeol. Museum :

• Archaeol. Site of Knossos

• Airport  :

• Olympic Airways :

• G.N.T.O

• Harbor

• Bus Terminal

• Road Assistance

Knossos ....

The archaeological site of Knossos is at a distance of 5 km southeast of Heraklion, near the small village of the same name, on a hill and it is the most famous archaeological site on Crete. A local bus (No2) runs very regularly between Heraklion and Knossos.

The name Knossos is mentioned in the Minoan tablets in Linear B. It is by that name that it is mentioned by Homer, who speaks of Knossos as a big city.
Strabos also considers Knossos and Gortyna the greatest and more powerful cities on Crete. Its perimeter was said to have measured 30 stadia (stadium: a unit of length equal to 606.95 English feet) and its population at the time of its peak was 100,000 inhabitants. 

The town is built on the site of the small harbor which was the seaport of Knossos. This small harbor much later became an important fortified town under the Arabs, who held it for a period of over one hundred years (824-961 AD). Thy build strong walls to protect it and surrounded it with a deep moat (from which it got its name "Chandax" from the Arabic word 'Khandak' meaning moat .

Knossos contains the ruins of the largest and most luxurious Minoan palace, built in the middle of a large town. The impressive Minoan palace of Knossos  is famous throughout the world for its association with the myths of the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Daedalus, Ikarus and of course of Theseus, and the most ancient cilivisation in Europe. The palace overlooks a small valley through which a stream (called the Kairatos) runs for most of the year. The palace contains roughly one-half-million square feet of floor area, distributed over three to five floors (due to the sloping site), not counting basement storage rooms. It is home to perhaps a thousand people. It has courtyards, reception rooms, apartments for the king and queen, workshops, storerooms, shrines, a whole wing of private apartments. It is a self-contained city in itself. The first palace was built around 2000 B.C. and destroyed around 1700 B.C. The second one was built immediately afterward , more magnificent than the first. This was also destroyed, around 1500 B.C., most likely by the terrible eruption of the volcano on Santorini.

Initial entry into the palace is oddly unsatisfying, many visitors disappointed at the lack of a grand portal. The entrance is through a small, ordinary-looking door into the West Porch, decidedly plain room. The disappointment wanes when you walk through another small door into a long dog-leg hallway (a frequent architectural feature of the palace), lined with astonishingly life-like images in bright colors depicting people striding beside you bearing gifts. This is the Corridor of the Procession, through which merchants, traders and landowners periodically bring tribute, in a day-long procession -- thus the name. It also leads visitors into the heart of the palace, opening onto a columned anteroom and beyond to a wide staircase leading to the top floor where the main reception rooms are located. The Central Court.

Much of the palace is open to visitors. The palace harbors several hundred rooms, connected by a maze of corridors, columned verandahs, open walkways, and lightwells, all clustered around the spectacular Central Court. Surrounded as it is by the palace, here reaching two stories, the sounds of voices bouncing off the walls, it seems smaller than it is: in area greater than 15,000 square feet. It is large enough to play host to bull-leaping performances. Many of the most important rooms open directly onto, or can be easily reached from the Central Court. For example, the Throne Room (a surprisingly unassuming chamber) is reached, unobtrusively, even modestly, through an antechamber at the north end of the west wall. Next to it are the Central Stairs leading to the second story.
 

Architectural feats include several storey buildings with light wells, pillars,drainage systems, aqueducts, irrigation systems and paved roads. The highly developed artistry from the exquisite frescos to the delicate jewelry also show just how advanced this society was.
The excavations were carried out in 1900 by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans who then reconstructed certain sections of the ruins.
For more information about Knossos you can click here.

Day -Hours : Monday: 08:00 - 17:00, Tuesday - Friday: 08:00 - 17:00
                            Weekends and Holidays 08:00 - 17:00
Ticket price : 1500 Drs., students: 800 Drs. (free for students 
                            from the European Community countries), seniors: 1100 Drs. 
Telephone :  +30-81-231940 

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Phaistos ....

Second in importance only to Knossos from the archaeological point of view is Phaistos.
It lies 62.5 km southwest of Heraklion. It is build on a hill (at an altitude of 100m above sea level), south of the Lythaeon river, and commands the fertile plain of Kato Messara, which is surrounded by impressive mountains (Psiloritis,Asterousia). Phaistos owing to its importance, is mentioned in the texts of ancient writers (Diodorus, Strabo, Pausanias), but also by Homer. According to mythology, the dynasty which ruled Phaistos, was that of Rhadamantus, son of Zeus and brother of Minos.
Phaestos was a very strong, rich, populous and independent city. It minted its own coins and, at the acme of its power and prosperity, its domination extended from the Lithino point to the Melissa point and included the islets of Paximadia (Letoae was their ancient name).
The state of Phaestos also disposed of two strong ports, Matala and Kommos to the southwest.
The area had been inhabited since Neolithic times ( 3000 BC approximately) as is evidenced by the foundations of Neolithic habitations, the tools, figurines and potsherds which were discovered under the storerooms of the palace, during the excavations which were carried out there.
The first palace was built approximately 1900 BC and, together with the other structures around, covered an area of 18,000 sq.m (slightly less than that of the palace of Knossos). The great earthquake which occurred around 1700 BC was the cause of its destruction, as it was of that of Knossos. In its place a new, more impressive palace was built, to which belong the greater part of the ruins which have been restored, while several parts of the first palace have also been excavated, mainly those lying to the southwest.
After the discovery of the southern part of the palace, during the excavations by D. Levi, various converging clues which came to light, seemed to lead to the conclusion that the second palace destroyed by an earthquake when the southern part of the hill subsided and carried along with it the southern part of the palace and the central court. Despite the recurring destruction of the palace, Phaistos continued to flourish during the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods until, around 200 BC, it was destroyed by its rival, Gortys, with which it was in constant conflict. In spite of this, life continued in Phaistos during the Roman period as well.
For more information about Phaistos you can click here.

Day Hours : Monday: 08:00 - 17:00, Tuesday - Friday: 08:00 - 17:00
                            Weekends and Holidays 08:00 - 17:00
Ticket price : 1200 Drs., students: 600 Drs., seniors: 900 Drs.

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Gorge of Samaria ....
The mountainous nature of Crete is the reason that the island is traversed from north to south by gorges of great ecological and tourist interest.
43 km from the city of Chania, the famous Gorge of Samaria, which is the longest gorge in Europe, measuring some 18 kilometers and can be covered in about 7 hr on foot is well-known for its awesome beauty. 

 At some points the passage is just 3 meters wide and at times the steep sides rise to a height of 600 meters. The gorge is cut by a stream which flows between the highest peak of the White Mountains and the mountain of Volikas. 

Hiking down the gorge is permitted from May to the end of October, depending on the weather. At the entrance to the gorge, at Xiloskalo there is a tourist pavilion with a view of majestic mountain of Gigolos (alt. 2,083 m.). On leaving the gorge, one encounters the village of Agia Roumeli, where one can take a launch to Chora Sfakion and catch a bus back to Chania. The road from Chania to the entrance of the gorge traverses picturesque lowland and mountain villages. At the village of Omalos and the Omalos mountain range one will find rooms for rent
and a number of taverns. 

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