Knossos

The Knossos Palace is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. It is only 5-klm away from the main city of Heraklion and has been substantially, if imaginatively "restored", making the site more comprehensible to the visitor than a field of unmarked ruins. The city of Knossos remained important through the Classical and Roman periods, but its population shifted to the new town of Handaq (modern Heraklion) during the 9th century AD and the 13th century, it was called Makryteikhos 'Long Wall'.