Crete

Crete is the most famous Greek island in the Mediterranean. It is the most popular resort in Greece, because tourists are attracted here by the warm sea, an abundance of beaches, many museums and ancient cities.

Infrastructure for tourists in Crete is very well developed. There are many archaeological sites here and many guests of the island tend to visit them, since the island was the center of the Minoan civilization (2600-1400 BC), which left behind such ancient cities as: Knossos, Gortyne, Feste. A settlement on the territory of Knossos appeared as early as 7000 BC. In those days, people lived in stone houses, some were still more comfortable in caves, they found a lot of tools, weapons and religious objects. Later, they began to arrive in Crete from the Greek policies and form their own cities.

Before the powerful eruption of the Santorini volcano, about a million people lived here, the wave formed after the explosion of the volcano about 100 meters high swept away the coastal cities, and the ash covered the fields, making agriculture impossible. So the Minoan civilization was destroyed, traces of which are found around the island. There is a theory that it was the eruption of the Santorini volcano that formed the basis of the myth of the legendary Atlantis.

The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion is of the greatest interest for lovers of cultural recreation, where the most important exhibits are collected in 20 rooms: frescoes, books, sarcophagi, ceramics, jewelry, traditional clothes, musical instruments of the inhabitants of the island. There are also archaeological museums in the cities of Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, Rethymno, Chania. It takes a lot of time to get around all of them, besides, there are also ancient settlements, which are open-air museums.

Crete has a lot of beaches with clean sand and sea water. For tourists, showers, sunbeds were equipped on the beaches, almost every beach in Crete has parking. Larger beaches usually have diving schools where you can learn how to dive and get certified. There is something to see in the local waters! There are many marine inhabitants who hide in corals and ship wrecks. During the occupation of the Turks, local resistance sank Turkish and Egyptian ships, and when the island completely came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, there was a flourishing of piracy, which sank all ships. Only John Kapodistrias was able to overcome the pirates by sending an Anglo-French squadron with a government army to Crete, which sank the ships of the pirates. So swimming in local waters you can find a sunken ship and maybe even find jewelry in it.