Crete
is the largest and most populous of the Greek
Islands. Due to its geographical location
between Africa, Europe and Asia Minor, it has
been a center of culture as early as Neolithic
times.
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The capital city,
Heraklion, is nestled between two mountain ranges. Heraklion is a
working small metropolis with enough treasures to overcome
its first gritty impressions.
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Crete attracts many visitors for its
dramatic topography, archeological sites, Byzantine and
Venetian-influenced cities, pretty coastal towns, beaches
and lagoons.
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Koules Fortress
from Venetian times encircles the harbour, along which there
is an attractive walkway.
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The central streets of Heraklion have been pedestrianized
and feature cute shops selling olive wood products, sea
sponges, honey and candy, and hand-made pastas.
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Knossos is the
largest bronze-age archeological site in Crete and is
considered Europe's earliest city and first-known high
civilization.
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Excavations were
begun in 1900 and revealed a palace and surrounding villas
that were the heart of a thriving culture between about 1600
and 1400 B.C.
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The inhabitants were the Minoans, named for legendary King
Minos. It is thought that the Minoan civilization was
severely damaged by the Santorini volcano and tsunami and
eventually destroyed by the Mycenaeans.
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Among the
archeological findings are thrones, frescoes, huge storage
urns, and clay tablets of Minoan writing.
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Heraklion's
Archeological Museum has a collection of artifacts dating back
several thousand years to the Minoan, post-Minoan and later
periods.
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Doménikos
Theotokópoulos,
most widely known as El Greco (the Greek), was a painter,
sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance who was
born in Crete.
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The artistic spirit remains strong in Crete with numerous
musicians, sculptors, potters, wood-carvers, painters and
fabric artists.
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Agios Titos stands where there was an original Byzantine
church, a Venetian Catholic Church, and an Ottoman mosque
which has been converted to a Greek Orthodox church.
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The Venetian
loggia (city hall), Municipal Gallery and Basilica of St.
Mark have changing exhibits in their art galleries and
performance spaces.
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