Tour: Knossos Palace – Archeological Museum – Heraklion city

First tour stop is the centre of Minoan civilisation and capital of Minoan Crete, Knossos, lay 5km south of Heraklion. Knossos flourished for approximately two thousand years. It had large palace buildings, extensive workshop installations and luxurious rock-cut cave and tholos tombs. As a major centre of trade and the economy, Knossos maintained ties with the majority of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Afterwards the world famous Heraklion Archaeological Museum was built between 1937 and 1940 on a site that had been occupied during the Venetian Period by an imposing Catholic monastery of St. Francis, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1856. The Museum houses archaeological finds from all over Crete. Pride of place goes to the treasures of the earliest European civilization, the Minoan, which can here be admired in all its historical continuity. At the end of this tour you will have time to visit Heraklion . Is the capital of Crete and one of the Mediterranean region’s most fascinating and vibrant cities. It is full of places to discover. With the current efforts to open up the wonderful mediaeval city centre, it speaks to us of a past full of history and great events that reflect its location at the crossroads of three continents.