If you want to see the city from above, then climb up the Venetian fortifications.

This 3 km walk up the walls, with its impressive gates and bastions, is a unique experience.

Heraklion has always been a fortified city, as evidenced both by the excavation findings under the modern buildings, and by its successive names: Kastro (Castle), Handax, Kandia, Megalo Kastro (Big Castle).

The first fortifications of Heraklion were originally built by the Arabs, and in the 15th century they were reinforced by the Venetians.

Parts of the fortifications of the Byzantine and Arab periods (4th-12th c.) have been integrated and preserved in later buildings.

The magnificent wall of the Venetian period is 3 km long. Its construction began in 1426 and it’s the largest fortification project in the Mediterranean.

The construction of the strong medieval fortifications that have survived to this day took over 150 years.

The fortification had four gates (Molos, St. George or Lazarettos, Jesus and Pantocrator) and seven bastions (Sabbionera, Vitturi, Jesus, Martinengo, Bethlehem, Pantocrator and St. Andrew).

The tour usually starts from St. Andrew bastion on Ethnarchou Makariou Street.

In the Martinengo tower, on the southern part of the wall, lies the tomb of Nikos Kazantzakis. The phrase engraved upon the tombstone reads “I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”The view from this point is panoramic. 

From the top of the fortifications, you get a panoramic view of Heraklion. You can see people doing sports, children playing in the moat, and the garden theaters that have become wonderful places of culture.

If you veer to the southeast, you will arrive at the wonderful Georgiadis Park, a beautiful green area, beloved by the Heraklion people.

If you go north, you will find yourself in the old districts with the low houses and the narrow alleys, like Vigla, the pantheon of artists, or like Lakko, an abandoned underground neighborhood that has been reborn. Today, old houses have been restored, new shops have opened, and walls have been decorated with street art, creating a colorful area. Volunteers of the Lakkos project, residents and the Municipality of Heraklion are transforming the area.