Heraklion on Crete history and tourism

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Heraklion, the capital city of the homonymous County, has about 125.000 residents and is the biggest city of Crete, as far as the number of inhabitants is concerned. This is also the financial and administrative centre of Crete, while its port is the biggest one on the island. According to historians, this was the site of the ancient roman town of Iraklia, the port of Knossos, which - after the Arab occupation of the island, in 824 - became one of the busiest ports of the Mediterranean Sea. At that time, begun the fortifications of the town, with the creation of a deep pit around the city (pit in Arabic is hantak) and the building of a castle. Taking its name from the Arabic word hantak, the city is then renamed to Hantakas. In 1961, the Byzantine emperor, Nikiforos Fokas takes over the city, which remains under Byzantine rule up to about 1210. It is then taken over by the Venetians and it becomes known by the name of Chandax or Candia. Due to this long History of Heraklion we are now able to talk about the archaeological site of Knossos, the Bembo fountain, the church of Ag. Titus, the Morozini fountain, the Walls, the castle of Koules and about all the ancient findings that are stored in the Archaeological or Historic & Ethnologic museums of Heraklion.