This route covers a large part of the
northeastern axis of the island and
links the capitals of the prefectures of
Herakleion and Lasithi. All along its length,
or after making short detours, one comes
across important archaeological sites and
many attractive places which offer
accommodation and amenities to the
tourist.

One can take either the old national
road or the shorter new national road.
In our description, we shall follow the
old road which, in its major portion,
runs along the coast, moving inland
after Mallia and, a little further to the
west, running southeastwards towards
Neapolis and Aghios Nikolaos. On the
way out of Herakleion, after the suburb
of Nea Alikarnassos, we pass the airport
of Herakleion. At the 7th km. to the left
lies the organised beach of Karteros. From
here, we can distinguish, in the Cretan
sea, the islet of Dia and, very soon
afterwards, we come upon Amnissos, the
harbour of Minoan Knossos, which was
built around the Palaeochora hill. Here,
during the excavations under Professor
Marinates, a Minoan villa dating from
approximately 1600 BC, known as the
"Villa of the Amnissos Frescoes ", was
brought to light.

This villa has an area of 20x20 metres
and consists of a ground floor and an
upper floor. In one of the upper floor
rooms were found the frescoes with the
lilies, a work showing an extraordinary
mastery of technique with the stems
and flowers of the plant impressed.
They are exhibited in the Herakleion
Archaeological Museum. During the
excavations, ruins of a building were
also brought to light, which was given
the name of the "Harbour-master's Of-
fice", as well as a limestone wall, steps
- believed to have been rows of seats in
a theatre - and an outdoor sanctuary
with a large circular altar. On the crest
of the same hill was built the Venetian
village of Mesovouni.

As we continue to the east, we pass the
valley of Vathiand find ourselves in the
archaeological area of Niros, (15 kms.)
also known as "Chani tou Nirou" or
"Chani Kokkini" from the name of the
settlement which exists there.
On this spot, in 1918, S. Xanthoudides
excavated a most important and very
well-preserved Minoan villa.

It appears to have been the house of the
overlord, and this is why it was called
the "House of the High Priest."
Among the findings on the site were
many ritual objects. One kilometre
west of the villa, at a spot called Aghioi
Theodoroi, the remains of a Minoan
dockyard and a port were found, belon-
ging to Knossos, the ruler of the seas.

Further along we come to Kato Gournes, and at the 23rd km, a road to the right leads to the Lasithi plateau (see route 3). At the 26th km. is Limenas Chersonissou, on the western point of Mallia Bay, a busy tourist centre with many large hotels, shops, restaurants, tavernas etc

Our route, following the curve of the
bay, continues to the southeast and
passing through Stalls (at the 30.5 km)
and Mallia (34.5 km) lovely beaches
with tourist accommodations and
shops, arrives at the archaeological site
of Mallia, 3 kms. east of the modern
town of the same name. At the 31.5 kilometre, a road to the right leads to Mochos and to the Lasithi plateau (see
route 3).

Visit of Mallia

Mallia was an important Minoan town
with a palace equivalent in size to those
of Knossos and Phaestos, but not so
grand.

Here, no frescoes were found, nor Kamares pots, nor the fine artistic objects
of the other two palaces, a fact which indicates the provincial character of this
palace.

It is apparent from the advantageous
position of the archaeological site that
the town, whose ancient name remains
unknown, was an important shipping
and commercial centre for the Minoans.
Excavations were begun in 1915 by Joseph Hadjidakis and are being continued by the French School of Archaeology.

In the Minoan town, apart from the palace, several private houses and the
Chrysolakkos tombs have also been excavated.

The area had been inhabited since Neolithic times.

The first palace was built around 1900
BC, was destroyed around 1700 BC, following which a new one was built. However, around 1450 EC, this new palace suffered the same fate.
The ruins to be seen on the northwestern side, belong to the old palace, while the remainder of the ruins belong to the new palace.

The Palace

It is a two-storey edifice. The visitor enters it through the western paved court
along the processional way. To the southeast there is a great central court in the middle of which are the four bases of an altar. The west wing of the palace to the west of the central court, includes several important rooms. The loggia is an
open space with stairs leading to the
court. At the end is a small staircase.
In a small room nearby, ajar was found
that contained a sceptre with the figure
of a panther and, outside the jar, were
discovered a knife and a long sword
(Herakleion Archaeological Museum).
From the finds, it is conjectured that
this area may possibly have been the
place where the High Priest prepared
himself for some sacred ritual, which
was performed in the loggia, to which
he had access through the stair case.
Futher to the south is an important
area including a crypt and an anteroom
with a bench. The two square columns
of the crypt are inscribed with ritual
symbols: a double axe, a trident, a star.
It appears that this area was reserved
for sacred ceremonies.

To the southwest of the court there are
wide steps which may have been theatre seats. Nearby is the kernos, a stone vessel in which offerings were deposited, and which had a large central cavity
with smaller ones around it.
In the southwestern corner of the central court, beside the paved entrance, there are two adjoining areas which served as sanctuaries for the south wing. Here was found a stone altar with carved symbols, earthen pots, an incense burner and other ritual objects.
At the western end of the area are the
so-called granaries which had a vaulted
roof supported by a central pillar.
Almost the entire eastern wing of the
palace was taken up by storerooms, as
we can see from the jars which were
found here. These rooms are ranged in
a parallel line and perpendicularly to
the long corridor of the storerooms,
which runs almost the entire length of
the eastern wing, behind an elongated
colonnade.

The northern side of the court is surrounded by colums joined together by a wall. Behind these is the pillared hall.
To the northwest of this room, the
structure placed at an angle was a Mycenean sanctuary.

To the west of the pillared hall, next to a
paved corridor, is the Tower court.
Further to the west an area, the poly-
thyron, is believed to have been the
rqya7 residence and to the south, adjoin-
ing the royal residence, there is an area
for ritual ceremonies, with a square
column; here pots, clay tablets, disks
and staffs with hieroglyphic inscriptions were found.

To the north of the Tower court is the
northern court of the palace which is
surrounded by workshops and storerooms.

Here was the northern entrance, from
which a paved road led to the sea.

Around the palace various residential
quarters had developed, which made up
the Minoan town. A number of houses
have been excavated. One of the houses
in the wealthy neighbourhood to the
northwest of the palace has been restored and today houses a variety of finds.

The Minoan harbour and cemetery

The road leads from the northern gate
of the palace to the site known today as
Aghia Varvara, where there is a small
bay, used by the Minoans as a port.
Here Minoan potsherds and tombs
were excavated.

At a distance of 500 m., approximately,
to the north of the palace, in the area today called Chrysolakkos, excavations
begun in 1921 and continued for a long
time, brought to light a square structure containing burial chambers.
The area was used as a Minoan cemetery, but also as a sacred area for the worship of the dead.

Here, among other precious finds, was
brought to light a part of the magnificent gold necklace, the pendant with the bees, which graces the Herakleion Archaeological Museum. It is an extremely elegant and fine example of Minoan metalwork, made with great skill and attention to detail.

At the 38.5 km. to the right is the beginning of the new national road towards Aghios Nikolaos. However, we shall continue our journey along the old national road. At the 41st km. to the left,
we come to a crossroad leading to the
seaside settlement of Sisi, in a sandy
bay.

At the 42nd km. is the picturesque chapel of Saint George of Selinari, on the left side of a lovely gorge and, further on, the village of Vrahassi.

At the 48.5 km., a detour to the north
leads to Milato and then to Milato beach, on the Cretan Sea. Near the village, on the side of a steep ravine, is the Milato Cave (20 mins. on foot), with a rich decor of stalactites and stalagmites. Inside the cave, which is approximately 300 m. long, a small chapel has been built and dedicated to Saint Thomas, and here, each year, during the service on the Saint's day, a prayer is said for the Cretans who were massacred on this spot by the Turks in 1823.
At Latsida (50.5 kms. from Herakleion)
there are the churches ofPanaghia (the
Holy Virgin) and Aghia Paraskevi, both with frescoes.

Continuing to the southeast from Latsida we come to Neapolis (52.5 kms. from Herakleion).

Neapolis is situated in the heart of a fertile valley, called "the trough of Merabello". It was the capital of the Lasithi prefecture until 1904, when Aghios Nikolaos took over the title. It has an archaeological collection with finds from
the excavations at Elounda, Aghios Nikolaos and Dreros, as well as a Folk Art
museum exhibiting various traditional
objects, utensils, items of furniture and
other hand-made articles.

To the northeast of Neapolis, on the hill
of Aghios Antonios, is the site of ancient
Dreros, where an oblong structure has
been excavated, which is believed to
have been a shrine dedicated to Apollo.
Here, three bronze statues of the 7th
century BC. (now in the Archaeological
Museum of Herakleion), as well as inscriptions carved on a square stone in
the Doric dialect, were found by villagers from the area.

After Neapolis we come to the village of
Nikithianos and, a few kilometres further to the south, another branch of the road leads to the Lasithi plateau (see route 3).

We continue south and arrive at the end of our journey, at Aghios Nikolaos
(68 kms. from Herakleion)