Heraklion Food and East: Cretan Market Produce and Indigenous Wine Revival, the Diktaean Cave Zeus Birthplace, Heraklion Nightlife, the Vai Palm Grove, Eastern Crete Minoan Zakros, and the Capital Infrastructure
The Heraklion food and eastern Crete guide covers the 1866 Street market Koroneiki olive oil and graviera cheese, the indigenous Vidiano and Liatiko wine revival, the Zeus birth Diktaean Cave on the Lasithi Plateau, the Dedalou Street garden cafe nightlife, the European's largest palm grove at Vai, and the administrative capital infrastructure of the largest Greek island.
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Heraklion Market and Cretan Produce
The Heraklion covered market on 1866 Street and the adjacent produce stalls of the Kornarou Square are the most authentic encounter with the Cretan agricultural abundance, where the Cretan olive oil in the three grades of Koroneiki variety, the Cretan graviera and anthotiro cheeses, the Cretan thyme honey, the dried herbs of the Diktaean Mountains, and the fresh seasonal produce of the Messara Plain create the most complete Mediterranean ingredient market in Greece outside Athens.
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Cretan Wine: The Indigenous Revival
The Cretan wine industry, based on the indigenous Vidiano white grape of elegant floral character, the Dafni grape of unique bay leaf aroma, the Kotsifali and Mandilari red grapes, and the Liatiko grape that produces the Sitia PDO sweet wine, represents the most diverse indigenous varietal collection in Greece and the most successful indigenous grape revival in the Mediterranean after the Santorini Assyrtiko. The Cretan wine regions of Peza, Sitia, and Archanes produce wines of international quality recognition.
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The Diktaean Cave: The Birth of Zeus
The Diktaean Cave on the Lasithi Plateau 50 kilometers east of Heraklion, identified by ancient Greek tradition as the cave where Rhea gave birth to Zeus and hid him from the cannibalistic Kronos, is the most mythologically significant cave in Greece and one of the oldest sacred sites in the Greek world, with the bronze votive offerings found in the excavation dating from the Minoan through the Roman period in continuous religious use. The Lasithi Plateau surrounding the cave, the highest inhabited plain in Crete at 840 meters, produces the apple orchards and the windmill landscape that is the most distinctive agricultural interior in Crete.
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Heraklion Nightlife: The Garden of Dedalou
The Heraklion nightlife circuit, centered on the Lionsquare, the pedestrian Dedalou Street cafes, and the bars of the El Greco Park, is the most lively urban nightlife in Crete and the gathering point of the Cretan university student population and the summer visitor market in the warm Mediterranean evenings. The garden cafe culture of Heraklion, with the outdoor tables under the eucalyptus trees and the raki and the mezze, is the most convivial evening experience in the Cretan island.
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Eastern Crete: The Vai Palm Forest and Sitia
The Vai palm beach on the northeast tip of Crete, the largest natural palm grove in Europe with 5,000 Cretan date palms creating the Saharan landscape that arrives unexpectedly at the end of the eastern Crete road, and the Sitia Winery with its Liatiko Sitia PDO sweet wine, are the most compelling reasons to drive the 180 kilometers from Heraklion to the eastern extremity of the largest Greek island. The Itanos ancient city ruins adjacent to Vai and the Zakros Minoan palace at the end of the Gorge of the Dead complete the eastern Crete archaeological circuit.
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Heraklion Practical: The Capital of the Largest Greek Island
Heraklion serves as the administrative, commercial, and transportation capital of Crete, the largest Greek island at 8,336 square kilometers. The Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is the second-busiest in Greece. The city has the only university hospital in Crete, the administrative courts and the regional government. The internal Crete KTEL bus network from the Heraklion bus terminal connects to all major Cretan cities and the ferry terminal connects to Piraeus in 8 hours, to Santorini in 2 hours, and to the Dodecanese islands.