Heraklion is one of several Venetian ports in Crete, and the
small part of town that is the Venetian port is picturesque enough, but the rest
of the city is pretty unattractive. It features many of the characteristics of
Greek towns and cities we know a bit too well, namely, badly in need of a good
hosing down, higgledy piggledy and broken pavements, graffiti, uncontrolled
parking arrangements, half-finished buildings and deserted and unmaintained buildings,
cars trying to negotiate medieval laneways and streets. Or in sum, a bit of a shit heap.
I’d probably suggest to others that the only really good
reason to go to Heraklion, other than to catch a plane in or out, is for the Archaeological
Museum, and if you’ve not seen it before, to go to Knossos. And of course to go
to Kazantzakis’ grave, one of the sacred sites of Crete and Greece, and to
reflect upon the quote from him that forms the town’s memorial for him “I hope
for nothing, I need nothing, I am free.” Ignore the heart drawn on in chalk - probably done by an enthusiast, but still would be better not there.
The Archaeological Museum is an absolute gem. Much extended,
renovated and reinterpreted/re-curated since we went there first about 15 years
ago, it now gives the best explanation one can get from a museum of the Minoan
civilisation. The quality and quantity of material they have is just
astonishing. It’s beauty and inventiveness is staggering.
We were so lucky to have time to make three visits, so that we
had a running chance of actually absorbing the full extent of the material
without getting overloaded or igniting “museum back”. We would go about 10am,
stop for coffee in the garden café, then a bit later stop for lunch, and leave by
2-3pm .
Here are some real highlights, most of which will be
familiar.
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| If you want to dress up a bit, just stick a cat on your head |
We have never seen Minoan sculpture before - think this might be the only museum that had any in Greece. It certainly wasn't on display 15 years ago.
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