Also still visible today are religious remains, these are located at the Kastri, which is the large rock at the Port, with the chapel of Agia Paraskevi below. Apart from a small sign at the gate there is no indication that these exist, here you will find an early Christian basilica with some remarkable mosaics. Further mosaics can be found beside the chapel of St. Nicholas (near Hotel Nora) with submerged walls of the basilica clearly visible. There are also some remains of a monastery at the chapel of St. George near the Knossos Royal Village. (The chapel is actually dedicated to two saints as it has two aisles, the other saint being St. Nicholas).
After the inhabitants moved, the settlement languished until the boom in package tourism in the 1960’s when the first hotels were built around the port area and this development still continues to the present day, although whether such development is sustainable with the cost of air travel rising and the changing demography of the average tourist also changing, remains to be seen. Just as important is what remains beneath the surface and whether any of it ever says daylight again and also how much was removed or covered forever, before enlightened regulations made full surveys necessary before work could begin!
Nearly 3000 years of history in 1300 words? Well a very brief history at least! Sorry to say my research was somewhat hasty, and without too much written material I have had to make do with what I have been told, so my thanks to the long suffering staff at both the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Crete, and my thanks also to many of the local population, many of whom remember the port before anything much was there, and can place certain features still visible before development took place. Thanks also to the people working on the dig near the Acropolis supermarket, who I am sure wondered why this strange Englishman was so interested in what they were doing!
The photos are all mine, if you want to use them please ask me first! And as a final aside, maybe a few signs put up next to things of interest in the future perhaps?
Undoubtedly I have got something wrong, or missed something very important, so I would welcome any corrections! You can email me through the website.
Fine mosaic at the Early Basilica on the 'Kastri' at the Port
St Nicholas church and mosaics
Click here for the next page
Click here for the first page
A view of the Port at night taken from Roustico Taverna in Koutouloufari. Some would say, perhaps unkindly, that this the right time of day and distance to see the port!
Hersonissos from the Cape
Winter sunrise
January snow on Mts. Kefala and Pirgia