Greece´s largest island boasts more than 400 beaches, diverse landscapes (including the breathtaking Samaria Gorge), and some of the most ancient history of all the Greek islands. That´s because 3,000 to 5,000 years ago it was the heartland of the Bronze-Age Minoan civilization - regarded as Europe´s first - and a number of UNESCO World Heritage Minoan sites can be visited today. The most famous is Knossos (pictured here), on the outskirts of the capital Heraklion. Europe´s first city was founded around 1900 BCE, and this five-acre complex still has the remnants of colorful frescos labyrinthine architecture (in fact, it´s connected with the classical Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, in which a labyrinth plays a central role; a fraction of the palace has been (controversially) reconstructed. You can also visit other Minoan palaces on Crete: Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros, as well as the settlement of Hagia Triada near Phaistos, which among other things features an impressive royal villa.
Other ancient sites on the island include Gortyn, Crete´s capital when it was Creta et Cyrenaica, a province of republican then imperial Rome (67 BCE-267 CE); Aptera, near the city of Chania, with copact ruins from various periods, including the Roman and Byzantine; and Lissos, a Hellenic coastal settlement known in ancient times for its healing thermal baths.
The island's lively modern capital - especially its Old Town - also has quite a bit to offer history buffs, such as the Heraklion Archaeological Museum with the world´s largest collection of Minoan artifacts; the Historical Museum of Crete covering what came after the Minoans; the 16th-century Koules Fortress, Venetian Loggia, harbor, and fortified walls, dating back to the centuries when it like Corfu was ruled by the "Serenissima" Republic of Venice; the city´s oldest church Agios Titos (founded in 961), and a pair of Greek Orthodoz cathedrals, St. Catherine of Sinai (also founded in the 10th century) and 19th-century Agios Minas, one of Greece´s largest.
Read more in Tripatini contributor Karen Anthony´s post 5 of Greece´s Best Islands for History.
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