Heraklion is the largest city in Crete and home to approximately one quarter of the island population (150.000 of the 600.000 people live here). The city was always of importance and has been inhabited since ancient times. It used to be a harbour of Knossos, then the Arabs built a fortress here, the Byzantines ruled it and under the Venetian rule the city became the economic and religious center of Crete and the whole eastern Mediterranean Sea. Earthquakes and a lot of destruction during World war II demolished many of the original buildings.
Nowadays Heraklion is one of the largest cities in Greece. The harbour and the airport (situated 4 kilometers outside the city) make Heraklion also the tourist center of the island. Some parts of the city still remain a little bit authentic, like for instance the fishing harbour. There are a couple of remains from the Venetian period. The Archaeological Museum houses the largest collection of Minoan artefacts.
In Heraklion you can visit the large amounts of shops, the Titus basilica, the Agios Minas church, the El Greco Park, several Venetian fountains and different kinds of museums. The Titus Basilica used to be a Turkish mosque and is nowadays a Greek Orthodox church. During the Venetian rule the Roman Catholic Arch bishop had his house here. Inside the church is a holy relic, the skull of the Holy Titus, who came to Crete with the apostle Paul. In the harbour you can see the Venetian fortress. It was originally built by the Arabs and later extended and restored by the Venetians during 1523 - 1540.
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The less said about Heraklion the better. It's a mini Athens filled with cars and noise, which I've seen described somewhere as 'a city in which it looked like an enormous concrete factory exploded'. I have to agree, although it houses some historical buildings, some nice streets (a market), and a very interesting museum, it's a place you might want to visit for one day, but after that avoid as much as possible.
Okay, in the centre of Heraklion there is a nice small market that is worth a visit. The most important museum of Crete is also situated in Heraklion city, but if you don't like all the noise and the crowds, like I do, you try to spend as little time as possible in Heraklion.
