Archeological Museum of Crete

 (Usual waiver applies to grammar, typos, spelling as I'm posting via  a small phone screen on the hoof 🤭, click on the pics to zoom in).

Knossos is described as the oldest city in Europe. It was the home of the Minoan  and early Neolithic civilisations. A small section of the Palace of Knossos has been restored to represent a fraction of the grandeur of architecture, although if you read the Google reviews it sounds like it's a bit rough with plain reinforced concrete.  

It's about 5ks from Heraklion, so a nice walk.

However there's a heatwave going on

so we decided against hiking in the baking sun.

Much of the treasures of Knossos are lovingly 

cared for in the Archeological Museum of Crete

 so let's go. 

The Archeological Museum is amazing and rivals that of any museum. You literally walk through history from 1700 BC. The exhibits are extraordinary. 

You can see the progression from clay to bronze to glass to gold,  from rudimentary iron tools to fine ivory buttons,  small beads, ornaments and glass. You could spend day after day here to really appreciate it all.

What an amazing place. I especially loved the old black and white photos that showed how the good people of Heraklion protected these treasures during the German occupation. Such foresight and patience that we now benefit from seeing the unbelievable treasures.