Irakleion Travel Guide

I really enjoyed this city even though I have heard that Chania is better.  We booked at the Hotel Irini (Irene) and it was a decent price and a very nice place to stay.  It was within walking distance of very nice places to eat, an interesting fort at the coast, and the shopping/ city center.  It seemed to be very relaxing at night and I felt very safe walking around at night too.  That still does not mean let your gaurd down though.  There were lots of interesting bars/pubs/restaurants to pick.  Some of the choice in food was kinda weird, but we managed fine.  Not really a whole lot to see, but still very peaceful.  I recommend that you check out a ferry to take you to the island Santorini for a few days while you are there.  Taking a one day tour of Santorini will not be long enough!  I also recommend that you see the Palace of Knossos and the Mueseum for the Knossos, cannot remember the exact name of it.  The Palace of Knossos is the ancient ruins of the very first civilization in Europe, so they say.  We also had a tour booked with George the Taxi driver which was  a neat way to get a tour.  You can search for that tour and should be able to find it.  We had one disappointment and that was poor and false advertising of this site:  http://www.diversclub-crete.gr/  becuase I booked in advance and made arrangments through email for someone from this company to pick us up at our hotel and we had an appointment for scuba diving and they never even showed up; they completely stood us up.  I even emailed them and they completely ignored me.  So just do not plan to use this company for scuba diving.  Other than that, I enjoyed Crete very much! 

If you are driving between Gortys and Iraklion, it is worth the quick detour around Agia Varvara to go to Agios Thomas. 1) instead of going through the town of Vavrava, you bypass most of it and visit a quiet little town with no traffic. 2) There are several small churches, including one that was almost built  into the side of a hill... but you'll have to ask where it is... 3) Do you like roman catacombs?... they have that too. The town only has 2 shops, a small grocery and a coffee shop.

When you get to town, you will see the coffee shop on the main road. Stop in there and depending on the time ask for a coffee or ice cream, and also ask about the church since this will be one of the few places where English will be of much use. After you see the church, walk across the street from the coffee shop to the catacombs. The whole detour can take as little as 20 minutes... or much longer if you engage the locals in conversation. But in the former case, you will probably get to see a few sights and be back on your way with hardly any lost time... since as I mentioned earlier you are bypassing Agia Varvara.

The city of Knossos remained important through the Classical and Roman periods, but its population shifted to the new town of Handaq (modern Heraklion) during the 9th century AD. By the 13th century, it was called Makryteikhos 'Long Wall'; the bishops of Gortyn continued to call themselves Bishops of Knossos until the 19th century.^[1] Today, the name is used only for the archaeological site situated in the suburbs of Heraklion.