Heraklion, Crete

Our ship arrived at 7am at Heraklion, capital of Crete. First stop was Knossos palace (5km from the port), the ruins of a Minoan palace, built in 2000BC. This is one of 4 Minoan palaces that have been uncovered in Crete so far, from the Bronze Age. Around 1700BC a series of earthquakes destroyed most of the palaces but they were rebuilt. The ruins we saw are dated from this second rebuild. Around 1450BC Santorini volcano erupted and Crete was affected by the resulting tsunamis that reached the North coast, destroying their ships which annihilated the Minoan economy.
The first excavation here began in 1878, and it's still an active archaeological site with more things being uncovered. The palace was a labyrinthine series of 1400 rooms for the royal family, priests etc. It was built as a labyrinth to be a refuge for the minotaur (said to be the product of the daughter of the king and a white bull she fell in love with, according to mythology, which was hunted, then eventually killed by Theseus). Most stone is white gypsum stone, locally occurring (also known as alabaster)
The red columns we saw in concrete are reconstructed.. (the original columns were cypress) Typical Minoan columns look upside down.. slightly narrower at the base and wider at the top.
Original Fresco paintings using natural pigments have mostly been moved to the museum, but some have been reproduced here.
We saw the oldest throne in Europe, and the oldest continual flushing toilet!😲
The original drinking supply was natural Springs which are still the major water source for Heraklion today
150,000 tonnes of olive oil are exported from Crete annually. This is their main export, and also 95,000 tonnes of wine.
.. Back to City centre to the archaeological museum to see the jewellery, pottery, frescoes etc that were found at the palace of Knossos and the 3 other Minoan palaces. The museum is built on top of a Venetian monastery from 15th century, the Venetians controlled Crete from 1204-1669AD and there are remains of many buildings , castles and City walls from this era The Turks took over and held control of Crete from 1669-1898 After that it was a separate state until 1913 when it became part of Greece again.
We walked the city of Heraklion, including the Venetian sea fortress.Read more