↟ the capital ↟ welcome to the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete! LIttle history wrap-up within 1 Minute to get you all set up for your next trip to crete (which might start here eventually 😜 pssst: when renting a car check it carefully when saving on full insurance - just a friendly reminder 🤗 ) Sooooo ... The city was founded in 824 by the Muslims, after taken over the island from the Eastern Roman Empire. In 961, Byzantine forces conquered it and burned it to the ground, built it up again and sold it 1204 to the Republic of Venice. The Venetians improved on the ditch of the city by building enormous fortifications, most of which are still in place, including a giant wall, in places up to 40 m thick, with 7 bastions, and a fortress in the harbour. After the Venetians came the Ottoman Empire. During the Cretan War (1645–1669), the Ottomans besieged the city for 21 years! More than 200 years later, the autonomous Cretan State was created, under Ottoman suzerainty, with Prince George of Greece as its High Commissioner and under international supervision. At this time, the city was renamed "Heraklion", after the Roman port of Heracleum ("Heracles' city"), whose exact location is unknown. In 1913, with the rest of Crete, Heraklion was incorporated into the Kingdom of Greece - so, business as usual ;) On the photo you see the Ottoman Vezir Mosque (1856), built on the site of the church of St Titus, and now the basilica of St Titus. ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ ↡ 📷 Sony Alpha 57 • 2014 📍 #heraklion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (hier: Heraklion, Greece)
