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Historical Museum
The Historical Museum of Crete is located at Sofokli Venizelou 27 & Lisimachou Kalokairinou 7. It was founded in 1953, and is housed in a neoclassical building of exceptional architectural merit. It tells the story of seventeen centuries of local history and culture, from the early Christian centuries up to modern times. Byzantine art and culture, the periods of Venetian and Ottoman rule, the age of revolutions on the course to union with Greece, World War II, the Battle of Crete and the resistance, as well as Cretan rural folk culture are all highlighted via selected exhibits combined with a wealth of visual material and multimedia.
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Karteros
The Bay of Karteros is located at the exit of the homonym Gorge, 7km east of Heraklion and extends to the east for 3-4km. It is named after the Byzantine General, Krateros, who in 824 AC landed on the beach with his ships in order to liberate Crete from the Saracens, but was defeated.
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Kera Kardiotissa Monastery
The Monastery of Kera Kardiotissa is located 50km southeast of Heraklion, in a wooded area of North Dikti Range, next to the road leading to the Plateau of Lassithi. This is a historic monastery, after which the nearby settlements of Kera and Ano Kera Kera have been named.
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Knossos Palace
The Minoan Palace at Knossos is over 20,000 square meters and the largest of all Minoan palatial structures. It was built of ashlar blocks, had many floors and was decorated with really beautiful frescoes. The old palace was built around 2,000 BC but was destroyed by an earthquake in 1700 BC. The newer, more complex palace, was built almost immediately after the first one was destroyed. In the middle of the 15th Century BC, the Achaeans took over the island of Crete and settled in the palace.
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Kournas Lake
Lake Kournas is actually the only large natural lake in Crete and is located 20km west of Rethymnon.The lake is small and circular and covers an area of 579 acres, has maximum depth 22.5 m, maximum length 1080m and maximum width of 880m.
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Kritsa Gorge
The gorge of Kritsa starts a little to the north of the village and ends after 13km at the village of Tapes. The entrance of the canyon near Kritsa is impressive, as the mountain is torn in two, shaping the narrow passage of Havgas.
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Maritime Museum of Crete
The Museum was inaugurated on the 27th May 1973, date of the 32nd anniversary of the Battle of Crete. It includes models of ships, various maritime instruments and navigational accessories, such as range-finders, barometers, wind-gauges, course and speed abaci, torpedo firing computer, magnetic boat compasses, meteorological devices, sextants, planispheres, torpedo-boat steering gear etc.
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Matala
Matala is located 68km southwest of Heraklion, on the boundaries of the plain Messara and Asteroussia Mountains. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations of Crete and certainly the most famous beach of Heraklion. It is famous for the carved caves in the rocks and the hippies of the ‘70s.
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Monastery of Odigitria Gonia
The seaside Monastery of Panagia Odigitria is located at the base of the peninsula Spatha, about 26km west of Chania and 2.5km north of Kolimbari. The monastery is also known as Lady of the Angels Monastery of Gonia (Gonia = Corner) due to its location on the western edge-corner of the bay of Chania.
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Monastery of Preveli
The monastery of Preveli (or Prevelis) is located 37km south of Rethymnon, in a beautiful natural setting on the western slopes of Megalos Potamos (the exit of Kourtaliotiko Gorge) and the palm grove of the area. It includes two separate monasteries which are located 1.7km from each other, the Kato (Lower) Monastery of Prodromos and the Piso (Back) Monastery of Theologos.