Since the Byzantine period, the city of Heraklion has been known as ‘Kastro’ because of the walls that surround it. In 824 AD, Crete was conquered by the Arab Saracens, who fortified the town with walls made of unfired mud bricks reinforced with goat and pig hair. The wide wall, and deep moat surrounding it, lent it the name, used for...
Two fortresses were built; in different times the current Koules, which dominates the edge of the harbor of Heraklion, and a smaller one just opposite of it, which was demolished in the early 20th century to improve the operation of the port. The small fortress built by the Venetians, for supplemental defense of Candia, was named “Rocca al...
