Heraklion

Heraklion is the largest city on the island of Crete and the administrative capital of the Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece and the largest city in the Greek islands, with a population of 179,302 in the city proper as of 2021 and 211,370 across its wider metropolitan area. The area has been continuously inhabited since at least 7000 BCE, and Heraklion is home to the Palace of Knossos, the center of Minoan civilization from roughly 2000 to 1350 BCE and often regarded as Europe oldest city. Knossos draws the second highest number of visitors of any archaeological site in Greece, after the Parthenon.