Crete

This article is about the Greek island of Crete. For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation).

Crete (Greek Κρητη / Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea.

It has an area of 8,300 square kilometres, a coastline of 1,040 kilometres, and a population of over 500,000. It conists of four prefectures: Chania, Rethimno, Heraklion and Lasithi. It has two significant airports, Nikos Kazantzakis at Heraklion, and Daskalogiannis at Chania. Among its principal cities are Heraklion (Iraklion), Chania, Rethimno, Agios Nikolaos.

Tourist attractions in Crete include archeological sites at Knossos, Phaistos, Gortys and many other places, the Venetian castle in Rethimno, the Samaria Gorge and many other minor gorges (Agia Irini, Aradena, etc).

Crete was the location of Minoan civilization (3000-1400 BC) one of the first civilizations in Europe.