The collection of the Minoan antiquities in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion in Heraklion is the largest in the world and the museum is considered the main Museum of Minoan civilization. It is classified as one of the largest and most remarkable museums in Greece and one of the most important in Europe. It is built in a spacious building with 27 rooms on the site of Saint Francis temple, which is now ruined.
Its exhibits include representative samples from all periods of Cretan prehistory and history, covering about 5500 years, from the Neolithic period to Roman times. Dominant in his collections are the unique masterpieces of Minoan art, such as the goddess of Snakes, the bullhead, the Kamares vessels, the famous frescoes of the Prince of Lilies and the Tavrokathapsia, the Disk of Phaestus, the Ring of Minos, the double axes of Arkalochori, etc.
The Samaria Gorge is the most famous trekking gorge in Europe and a part of the European E4 hiking trail. Thousands of tourists flock here daily in the summer season to walk from the top to the bottom. For many visitors, it is the sole purpose of their visit to Crete. The length of the gorge reaches 14.5km and takes almost 5-7 hours to hike from Xyloskalo at Omalos plateau to Agia Roumeli, depending on the trekking pace. The gorge is locarted at the south of Chania Prefecture in the larger uninhabited area of Europe, where no roads even exist. It was created by the river flowing between the main massif of the White Mountains (Lefka Ori) and the range of Volakias. There are many smaller gorges vertical to Samaria Gorge, some of which have never been crossed by humans and require canyoning equipment. One of these, Perdika, has the highest waterfall in Crete (220m).
While the gorge is officially 15km long, this distance actually refers to the hiking distance between the settlement of Omalos on the northern side of the plateau Omalos and the village of Agia Roumeli. In fact, the gorge is 13 km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250m at the northern entrance, and ending at the shores of the South Cretan Sea in Agia Roumeli. The walk through Samaria Natural Park is 13 km long, i.e. from the ticket kiosk at Xyloskalo to the kiosk at Agia Roumeli old village, but you have to walk 1.5 more kilometers to reach the beach of Agia Roumeli, making the hike totally 14.5km.
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