Iraklion, Crete is the fourth largest city in Greece. However, unlike Athens, and even Izmir, Turkey, Iraklion did not seem nearly as hectic and congested. We enjoyed a very pleasant stroll down the waterfront to the old fort built by the Venetians hundreds of years ago to protect the city from invasion. This area is also a major shopping and historic district where we visited the old Venetian arsenal which is not the Town Hall, the Church of the Apostle Titus and the Basilica of St. Mark as well as a major plaza and very lovely and peaceful park. The pace was quite slow and the people very warm and friendly. When we first arrived and we looked over the rail from the ship we were trying to decide why we had stopped in what could as well have been Buffalo, NY from the looks of things. However, once we began to explore the little streets and byways we soon discovered what a lovely and charming place this really is. Once again…I’m not sure what we expected…but, this wasn’t it. We had a marvelous visit in this ancient city.
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