Heraklion travel guides

Coordinates: 35°20′N 25°8′E

Heraklion or Iraklion (Greek: Ηράκλειο Italian: Candia), is the largest city and the capital of Crete. Its name is also spelled Herakleion (transliteration of ancient/Katharevousa name), or Iraklio, with other variants. For centuries, it was called Candia (Greek: Χάνδαξ or Χάνδακας, Turkish: Kandiye).

Heraklion is the capital of Heraklion Prefecture. It has an international airport named after the writer Nikos Kazantzakis. The ruins of Knossos, which were excavated and restored by Arthur Evans, are nearby.

History

Heraklion is close to the ruins of the palace of Knossos, which in Minoan times was the biggest centre of population on Crete. So it is very likely that there was a port here as long ago as 2000 BC. There is however no archaeological evidence for such a port.

The present city of Heraklion was founded in 824 AD by the Saracens (an Arabic Muslim people). They built a moat around the city for protection, and named the city خندق Ḫandaq, 'moat'. The Saracens allowed the port to be used as a safe haven for pirates, much to the annoyance of the nearby Byzantine Empire.

In 961, the Byzantines attacked and defeated the city, slaughtered the Saracens, looted the city, and burned it to the ground. They remained in control of the rebuilt Khandak for the next 243 years.

In 1204, the city was bought by the Venetians as part of a complicated political deal which involved among other things, the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade restoring the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus to his throne. The Venetians improved on the ditch by building enormous fortifications, most of which are still in place, including a giant wall, in places up to 40m thick, with 7 bastions, and a fortress in the harbour. The name Khandak became Candia in Italian. The city retained the name of Candia for centuries, and the whole island of Crete was often called Candia as a result.

After the Venetians came the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. They besieged the city for 22 years in a bloody war in which 30,000 Cretans and 120,000 Turks died. The Venetians eventually handed it over in 1669. The city was spelled during the Turkish rule as Kania (again also applied to the whole island of Crete) but also known as Megalo Kastro 'Big Castle'. During their occupation, the harbour silted up, so they moved most of their business to Hania in the west of the island.

The city became independent with the withdrawal of the Ottomans in 1898, then part of the 1908 Cretan state, and then it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece in 1913. Upon its independence it was renamed to 'Heraklion', meaning City of Heracles (Hercules), after the port of Heracleum which had existed somewhere in the locality in Roman times.

The biggest monument of the city is the Venetian medieval fortress Rocca al Mare (also known as Koules) located on the port.

Port

Heraklion is an important shipping port and ferry dock. The public can take ferries and boats from Heraklion to a multitude of destinations including Thira, Rhodes, Egypt, Haifa and mainland Greece.

Airport

Heraklion International Airport, or Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is located about 5km east of the city. The airport is named after Herkalion native Nikos Kazantzakis, a Greek writer and philosopher. It is the second busiest airport of Greece, mostly due to the fact that Crete is a major destination for tourists during summer. There are regular domestic flights to and from Athens and Thessaloniki, with Aegean Airlines and Olympic Airlines. Moreover, there are direct flights to islands such as Rhodes and Ikaria. During summer period, the traffic is intense, and the flight destinations are from all over Europe (mostly Germany, UK and Italy), as well as Russia and Romania. The airfield is shared with 126 Hellenic Airforce Base.

Sporting teams

The city hosts three soccer clubs:

• OFI Crete in Heraklion, plays in the first division.
• Ergotelis FC - in Heraklion, plays in the first division.

Both OFI FC and Ergotelis FC use the Pankretio Stadium, which was built for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.

• Atsalenios - Football Club of Heraklion which plays in the third division.

Famous natives

Heraklion has been the home town of some of Greece's most significant spirits, including the novelist Nikos Kazantzakis, the poet and Nobel Prize winner Odysseas Elytis and the world-famous Greek painter Domenicos Theotokopoulos (El Greco).

• Elli Alexiou, writer 1894-1988
• Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, business woman and politician *1955
• Michael Damaskenos, painter of icons 1530/35-1592/93
• Rika Dialyna, actress and model, Miss Hellas 1952
• El Greco, Mannerist painter, sculpturer and architect 1541-1614
• Odysseas Elytis, poet, Nobel Prize in Literature 1911-1936
• Nikos Kazantzakis, the prominent modern Greek writer 1883-1957
• Georgios Klontzas, painter of icons 1540-1607
• Vitsentzos Kornaros, most important Cretan Renaissance writer 1553-1613
• Nikos Machlas, football player *1973
• Giannis Markopoulos, composer *1939
• Sapfo Notara, actress 1907-1985
• Theodoros Poulakis, painter of icons 1622-1692
• Andreas Ritzos, painter of icons 1422-1492
• Georgios Samaras football player *1985
• Giannis Smaragdis, film director *1970
• Emmanuel Tzanes, painter of icons 1610-1690
• Konstantinos Volanakis, painter 1837-1907

References

• The War for Candia by the VENIVA consortium provides details of the siege of Candia, including estimated number of deaths.