Nowadays, the harbor itself is home to brightly colored fishing boats and busy tavernas selling fresh fish.

Looking back towards the city you will see the strong arches which housed boats under repair and were used as an arsenal for storing guns and gunpowder. The greatest threat to the Venetian stronghold of Heraklion, or Candia, as it was named, was thought to come from the seaward side of the city, and indeed, many naval skirmishes were fought off this coast. The view northward takes in the uninhabited island of Dia, where evidence of ancient Minoan settlement (approx 2700-1450 BC) was found by the diver, Jacques Cousteau.

Genuine hospitality that is truly unforgettable

Cretan hospitality shares the characteristics of its famous landscape; grand, generous and infinitely welcoming. Families are only too happy to share the island’s many specialties – a dakos salad, free-flowing raki or the experience of the mantinades, poems often accompanied by a Cretan lyre or lute. Wise old men are only too happy to recount memories of the island’s rich, and often troubled, past or tales of the vendettas between feuding families. There are also stories of the great loves and friendships that characterise a proud and family-orientated people. You, too, can become part of this unique island: Cretan hospitality will be unforgettable!

City Attractions

• Liontaria or Lion Square – This is the heart of Heraklion, it is called also Plateia Eleftheriou Venizelou, who was Crete’s greatest man of state. The decorated fountain is composed of eight cisterns and decorated with stone relief, depicting figures of Greek mythology, Nymphs, Tritons, sea monsters and dolphins, while the main basin is supported by four sitting lions balancing a circular bowl on their heads.
  Archaeological Museum – The world famous Heraklion Archaeological Museum was built between 1937 and 1940. The Museum houses archaeological finds from all over Crete.
  Historical Museum – on Sofokli Venizelou, facing the sea is dedicated to bringing 2,000 years of history to life. The museum was founded in 1952. It houses important examples of early Christian artifacts, stonework and decorative objects of Roman, Arab, Byzantine, Venetian and Turkish origin. More recent exhibits are concerned with the 20th Century, and the 1913 unification is dealt with, under the leadership of Eleftherios Venizelos. Other rooms offer evidence of the island’s most recent warfare and the 10-day Battle of Crete in 1941 is powerfully evoked. Another room, a reconstructed library, dedicated to Crete’s most famous writer, Nikos Kazantzakis, who captured for a moment the soul of Crete. The restaurants outside the museum offer shade and fine foods.
• Plateia Kornarou – lies at the top of the market, with a lovely Venetian fountain of its own, the Bembo Fountain, probably the oldest, The Bembo Fountain was built in 1588 by Venetian architect Zuanne Bembo. It is decorated with columns, Venetian family coats-of-arms and a headless male statue, brought here from Ierapetra. At one time, people believed that the statue had supernatural powers and every May, religious rituals were organized in its honor. The atmospheric ‘kafeneio’ alongside it, still serving Greek coffee and aperitifs from an antique stone pavillion at its centre is a great reminder of Crete’s Turkish past. The ‘Plateia’ itself is named after Vitsenzos Kornaros (1553 to approx.1614), composer of the epic poem Erotokritos, which is regularly performed around Crete, and still evokes pride in every Cretan heart.
• Plateia Eleftherias – Freedom Sq.: The spacious Plateia Eleftherias is worth exploring, built in a crescent shape alongside the Archaeological Museum. Apart from breathing space, it offers the shaded park of Georgiades, a fine place to rest the feet and watch the busiest intersection in Heraklion. On the seaward side of the square is the entrance to St. George’s Gate, used from Venetian times as a passage between the city and its port, the entrance is down stone steps, leading to an atmospheric dome-roofed chamber and the lower exit.
  Agios Minas Cathedral – The church suffered damage in the battles for the city and needed thirty years to be rebuilt. In 1896 it was inaugurated with lavish celebrations. Inside the church can be seen the work of Mikail Damaskinos among other representatives of the Cretan School. The square here takes its name from this church.
  Agios Titos – This majestic church dominates the eponymous, palm-studded square. It had Byzantine origins in AD 961, was converted to a Catholic church by the Venetians and turned into a mosque by the Ottomans, who used the bell tower as a minaret. It has been an Orthodox church since 1925. Since 1966, its most revered possession is once again the skull relic of St Titus, returned here after being spirited to Venice for safe-keeping during the Turkish occupation.
• Nikos Kazantzakis’ Grave: A simple tomb in the well-preserved Martinengo Bastion south of the city centre honors Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957), Crete’s most acclaimed 20th-century writer and author of Zorba the Greek. The famous epitaph on his grave reads: ‘I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free’.
• Knossos – The centre of Minoan civilization and capital of Minoan Crete lay 5km south of Heraklion. The Minoan palace is the main site of interest at Knossos, an important city in antiquity, which was inhabited continuously from the Neolithic period until the 5th c. AD. The palace was built on the Kephala hill and had easy access to the sea and the Cretan interior. According to tradition, it was the seat of the wise king Minos. The Palace of Knossos is connected with thrilling legends, such as the myth of the Labyrinth, with the Minotaur, and the story of Daidalos and Ikaros.