Our land – Land of Emeralds in the Famous Minoan Crete

 

Heraklion Crete

Heraklion is the largest city in Crete with 140,730 inhabitants (2011 census).

The main economic sectors of the city are tourism, agriculture and trade. It has an industrial area 4 km southeast of the center. Heraklion also has one of the largest airports in Greece today (second in total after Athens and first in charter flights), the airport "Nikos Kazantzakis", as well as a port with heavy shipping mainly to Piraeus and other islands. The city of Heraklion was named for the year 2017 as the fastest growing tourist area in Europe [3]. According to the ranking, Heraklion emerged as the 20th most visited region in Europe, the 66th region on the planet and the 2nd in Greece for the year 2017, with 3.2 million visitors [4] and the 19th in Europe for 2018 with 3, 4 million visitors.

 

Monuments

 

The Venetian walls of Heraklion, with a total length of 7.5 km.

 

The Gate of Jesus (New Door) which functions as a Museum for Nikos Kazantzakis.

 

The Pantokrator Gate (Chanioporta), the old and the new, and the various main and auxiliary Gates.

 

The Scattered Fountains.

 

The Lions Square with the Morosini fountain.

 

The Tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis in the Martinego bastion.

 

The Market at 1866 Street and the side streets.

 

The walk from Koule, along the sea wall and then in the area of Karavola, the promenade to the bridge of the river Giofyros and then along the beach Ammoudara, behind the Pankritio Stadium, a total length of about 3 km. The area is offered in places for recreation with continuous parks, bike paths etc.

 

Museums - Archaeological sites

 

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion
Historical Museum of Crete
Natural History Museum
Museum of the Battle of Crete and the National Resistance
Heraklion Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Christian Art of the Cretan School, in the church of St. Catherine of Sinai [32]
Venetian walls of Heraklion
Archaeological site of Knossos