Crete Attractions

Knossos, also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete believed to be the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living areas, and store rooms close to a central square. Detailed images of Cretan life in the late Bronze Age are provided by images on the walls of this palace. It is a popular tourist destination due to its close proximity to the main city of Heraklion and has been substantially restored by archaeologists. The city of Knossos remained important through the Classical and Roman periods, but its population shifted to the new town of Handaq (modern Heraklion) during the 9th century AD.

The Samaria Gorge is a National Park, located in the prefecture of Chania in SW Crete. It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains and Mt. Volakias. The gorge is 16 km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250 m at the N entrance, and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli. The walk through Samaria National Park is 13 km long, but another 3 km is required to get to Agia Roumeli from the park exit, making the hike 16 km. The most famous part of the gorge is the stretch known as the Iron Gates, where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only four meters and soar up to a height of 500 m.

The Etz Hayyim Synagogue is the only surviving remnant of the once Jewish community on the Greek isle of Crete. After being restored, the synagogue has become tourist destination and has attracted visits from foreign dignitaries like Queen Sofía of Spain, the sister of the former King Constantine II of Greece, who made a sudden and unannounced visit to the site on March 6, 2006.

The Archaeological Museum of Chania is a museum located in the former Venetian Monastery of Saint Francis at 25 Chalidon Street, Chania, Crete, Greece. It was established in 1962. The museum contains a substantial collection of Minoan and Roman artifacts excavated from around the city of Chania and the surrounding prefecture, including pieces from the ancient cities of Kydonia, Idramia, Aptera, Polyrinia, Kissamos, Elyros, Irtakina, Syia and Lissos, and also from Axos and Lappas in Rethymno Prefecture. The museum contains a wide range of coins, jewellery, vases, sculpture, clay tablets with inscriptions, stelae and mosaics. The collection includes a clay sealing from Kasteli, with a representation of a Minoan city and its patron deity dated to the second half of the 15th century BC. There is a clay pyxis with a representation of a kithara player excavated from a chamber tomb i...

The Archaeological Museum of Chania is a museum located in the former Venetian Monastery of Saint Francis at 25 Chalidon Street, Chania, Crete, Greece. It was established in 1962. The museum contains a substantial collection of Minoan and Roman artifacts excavated from around the city of Chania and the surrounding prefecture, including pieces from the ancient cities of Kydonia, Idramia, Aptera, Polyrinia, Kissamos, Elyros, Irtakina, Syia and Lissos, and also from Axos and Lappas in Rethymno Prefecture. The museum contains a wide range of coins, jewellery, vases, sculpture, clay tablets with inscriptions, stelae and mosaics. The collection includes a clay sealing from Kasteli, with a representation of a Minoan city and its patron deity dated to the second half of the 15th century BC. There is a clay pyxis with a representation of a kithara player excavated from a chamber tomb in ...

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one the great museums of Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete.  Besides the Minoan collection, the museum covers other periods of Cretan history, with artifacts from the Neolithic to the Greco-Roman period. The museum is currently under renovation, but a temporary exhibition is open in the main building. According to tradition, Knossos was the seat of the legendary Cretan king Minos. The Palace is also connected with further legends, such as the myth of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, as well as the story of Daidalos and Ikaros. Excavation has revealed that the site was continuously inhabited from the Neolithic period (7000-3000 B.C.) until Roman times.