Heraklion is the capital city of Crete.
It is also the largest city on the island and has museums and ruins showing the history of humanity in this part of the world. The following pictures were taken in May of 2016 and give a glimpse of the port through a telephoto lens. (some of the photos are part of a gallery of two or three pictures that cycle a few seconds apart.)
The harbour serves all sizes of watercraft, from cruise ships, tankers, containerships, ferry boats, small sailboats and rubber zodiacs.
In Venetian times, the port was guarded by this fortress, Castello a Mare. Possibly built as early as the 9th century by the Arabs, it has been repaired and rebuilt many times. The current fort goes back to 1540 and was overtaken by the Ottomans in 1669. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koules_Fortress
In the map above, Heraklion is on the centre of the northern coast. Today it is more commonly spelt Iraklion, just as spelt is more commonly spelt “spelled”. In earlier times it was called various forms of the word Candy, Candia and the like. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraklion
Enlarging the port area of the map, the fortress is on the left, guarding the tiny inner harbour. Today the main defence is the breakwater that protects the ships in the harbour. The cruise ship was docked about one-third of the way across, to the left of the wide container dock. On the right is the international airport, about 5 kilometres away.
On the top of one of the hills is this curious structure that looks like a giant golf ball. It is possibly radar for the airport or water storage for the town. Can you imagine taking a golf driver to it? Try to not hit any aeroplanes.
Heraklion is a hub for many ferry lines that connect the other Greek ports on the islands and the mainland.
I am ready for a visit to nearby Knossos Palace. Look for more picture from there.
