What is Knossos Palace?
Exploring the Knossos Palace was on our must see list when we visited Crete and it did not disappoint. The Palace of Knossos is the oldest palace in Crete. Originally settled as early as 6700 BC during the Neolithic Period. In 1900 BC a palace was built on the original ruins of the first settlement by the Minoan Civilization. This was destroyed, around 1700 BC, presumably by an earthquake, and then rebuilt. In 1450 BC many of the palaces of Crete were destroyed, although Knossos appeared to still be in use. Many theories as to what happened are out there, but the general belief is Mycenean’s from Mainland Greece occupied the area and took it over. Furthermore, by 1380 BC, Knossos appeared to have been abandoned for unknown reasons.
Location of Knossos Palace
Knossos is located about 5 km south of modern day Heraklion in North Central Crete. It is easy to locate. Once in the parking lot, head back towards the street and follow the signs. The entrance is about a block from the parking lot. In addition, there are plenty of souvenir shops and some places to eat across the street.
Excavation and Restoration
Discovered in 1878, the Knossos Ruins a great piece of history.. In 1900, Sir Arthur Evans, from England, brought a team in and began excavating the site. As a matter of fact, much of what you see today is from his work and studies. Equally important, he used scientific knowledge and ideas to name the rooms and in the same way, hypothesized about what there actual useless were.
By and large, the Palace was built around a central area consisting of different rooms, or areas for different purposes. Important to realize, a lot of the naming of rooms and believed purposes for the rooms are based on other ruins, or hypotheses of this time. Fresco remnants were found throughout Knossos and Sir Arthur Evans hired an archeological restorer to recreate some of these frescoes. As a result, copies of these restored frescoes are throughout the palace. In addition, the original restored frescoes are at museums including the Heraklion Archeology Museum in Heraklion. Its interesting to note, many of the rooms are restored to what Evans believed to be accurate based on historic evidence. I found the following link to be interesting and to give a good explanation of the restoration process at Knossos. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/the-palace-at-knossos-crete
Knossos Palace Photos
North Entrance & North Pillar Hall
Throne Room
Fresco Room-Above the Throne Room
South Portico of Knossos Palace
South Propylaea-Prince of the Lillies Fresco
Grand Staircase at Knossos Palace
Storage Area, Staircase & Theatrical Area
Lunch at Taverna Stefanis
After touring Knossos we headed towards Elounda opting to go through the mountains. Of course, we were pretty hungry after a busy morning and looked for an out of the way place to eat. As a matter of fact, we found the perfect spot in the small mountain town of Krasi. The Taverna Stefanis. This place is amazing! The food is fantastic and plentiful and the service is also second to none! In addition, it is family owned and operated. This place is truly a gem!
Check out this great food!! From top, left to right. Fava. Tzatziki. Greek Meatballs. Saganaki (Fried Cheese). Fresh Fruit and Desserts! As can be seen, we ate well and were very happy!
Elounda Peninsula All Suites Hotel
We arrived at Elounda close to sunset and checked into our hotel, the Elounda Peninsula All Suites Hotel. This place is beyond wonderful! The service is outstanding and the views from our room and deck were amazing. In fact, this place is simply outstanding. All in all, the hospitality of the staff is what truly makes Elounda Peninsula stand out. For more information or to book a room click here.
Diary of a Gen-X Traveler is not an affiliate of any hotel or restaurant. We do not receive any compensation for recommending any place. The places we recommend are places that we feel are exceptional and have personally been to. We are an affiliate for Amazon and we do get a small commission for Amazon Products bought from my posts at no cost to you!
Planning
While planning our trip to Greece, I found the travel guide Top 10 Crete to be very useful. It lists the top 10 places to go, restaurants, and sites. Then it also lists the top 10 by region and area. I felt it was a great planning tool. In addition, it came with a pocket size map.
I also bought a National Geographic Map of Crete and this was priceless as we lost our GPS several times. The map is pretty accurate and also durable. It really did help us out!
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You can find my other Greek Adventures by following these links:
Crete
Elounda Peninsula All Suite Hotel, Sept 2019
Seitan Limania Beach, Sept 2019
Katholiko Monastery, Sept 2019
Santorini
5 Great Places to Eat in Santorini, 2018 & 2019
Santorini in a Dune Buggy, Sept, 2019
First Time Guide-3 Days in Santorini Oct 2018
Athens
5 Great Places to Eat in Plaka, Athens, 2018 & 2019
Anafiotika in Athens, Sept, 2019
Another sunrise over Athens, Oct, 2019
Temple of Hephaestus and Ancient Agora , Sept 2019
Sunrise over Athens, Sept 2019
Acropolis and Parthenon Oct 2018
Great post 😊
Thank you!
No problem 🙂 check out my blog when you get the chance 😄
Will do!!
Stunning!
Yes it was!!!
It’s bedtime here but the food pics are making me hungry. You two are doing a nice combination of getting out and seeing and then enjoying great cuisine. Such a nice, nice trip. Thanks for sharing.
jerry
Thank you! I am not sure what we enjoy more, seeing the sites or eating!!!!!
That’s it, we are going to Greece!
You would love it!!!!
it must be amazing to visit buildings that are so old! you mention that you wanted to find an out of the way restaurant – were you driving yourself around at that point, or were you part of a tour? great photos as always!
We rented a car and drove up into the mountains!!
Sounds like you went off the beaten path!
A little bit but certainly saw others going that way!
Awesome architectural photographs – thanks for sharing!
Thanks!! Such an amazing place!!
How would you respond to someone who is not all that interested in Ancient History relics but still desires to see the best of Crete otherwise? Nice pictures
The beaches are fantastic!!! If you like short hikes they are fun to get to. Driving the coast or mountains make for beautiful scenery. There are caves, we didn’t visit any this year but plan on going back next year. The food and wine are fantastic. Check out a couple of my posts about the beaches, it shows a different part of Crete!
Fantastic post! Looks like it was a blast. I’ve always wanted to visit Greece. Thanks for sharing this with us ❤🌻🦋
Thanks for stopping by!! Greece is awesome!! We had a lot of fun!
You’re welcome! That’s good to hear 🦋🌻
Beautiful post! And definitely a place I want to visit!
Thank you! It is a great place to visit if you love history!! We enjoyed it!
Absolutely! I quite agree
Really cool. I remember studying that palace in history classes.
It was cool. Beyond our expectations!! Thanks for stopping by!
My son really wants to go to Knossos. Your photos make it look empty – were you just lucky or did you get there really early? x
We were lucky, but most places we went in Crete were like this so maybe it was the time of year? We went in September. We did have our share of having a crop out heads and wait around for people of moved but not as bad as it’s been an extremely busy places! I never felt like it was crowded.
😂 I do that too…. Hang around until you get a nice quiet moment!
Exactly!!!!
I felt I was in Greece and listening to your lessons on history as we toured this place. Brilliant post yet again Madam.. 😊
The North Gate appears to be refurbished recently, is that the case?
I am astonished to see the paintings and murals so beautifully preserved despite being about 3,000 years old. That’s amazing..!! I believe the Engineers, artists, painters and every person in the olden societies were centuries ahead of their times..!!
Thanks for the tip on GPS though. Shall keep that in mind when I visit Greece.
Thank you once again Madam for sharing such an enlightening post. Got to learn a lot today.. 😊
A lot of the murals and area have been refurbished and some even are sublimates with the originals on a museum. I probably should add that to my post now that I’m thinking of it. I appreciate you reading my posts and thanks for the comments!
I see. Still, the efforts of the archaeologists and the Greek conservationists are commendable.
You are most welcome Madam and thank you once again for such enlightening posts.. ☺️
Many thanx for the awesome pics and info.
Art
Thank you for reading!!