Gouves and other Crete Island, Greece Things to Do Tips

Gouves is situated on the north coast of Crete Island and to the east of Heraklion, this municipality spreads from the lovely beaches a few kilometres inland to the fertile fields and picturesque villages that cling to the different hills. Kato Gouves: a large beach resort on Crete, with a lot of hotels and apartments. The restaurants and bars are all centred around the main road of Gouves, which does not look typical Greek… It is a typical tourist resort, Gouves offers also a diving school, a large harbour, long beaches and in the summer lots of tourists.

Ano Gouves: the beautiful little village situated above Kato Gouves. ano Gouves means: “Higher Gouves” and Kato Gouves: “Lower Gouves”. The village is really worth visiting, with a beautiful church surrounded by small Greek taverns, which are open the whole years around. ano Gouves is situated on a five kilometers distance. In ano Gouves you will still find the traditional sceneries of Greece.

In recent years, the tourist development has been very marked in this area, due on the one hand to its wonderful beaches, on the other hand, to its vicinity to Heraklion to the west and Chersonissos a few kilometres to the east. It covers an area of 9496 ha. and has a population of 4918 people.

My Gouves picture Montage

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We were stopping in Gouves so as the Crete Aquarium was nearby we decided to make it our first stop on our first day.
It's €8 for Adults and €6 for children so it is a little on the pricy side as far as tourist attractions on crete go (Knossos is €6 ) but it is certainly worth a visit. The large display tanks contain the sea life from the Mediterranean, everything from Jellyfish to Sand Sharks
You are allowed to take photos (without flash) and I found that it was much better to take short videos.
We walked along the sea front to get there as it only took us about 15 minutes but there is ample parking for people staying further away.

See my video of the Aquarium here.

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Address: Gouves, Heraklion
Directions: comming from Gouves it is just asfter the old American Base.

It is well sign posted all over (unlike most places) so you should have no trouble finding it.
Website: http://www.hcmr.gr/english_site/aquaria/crete/index.html

Walking along the harbour front you will notice an old steam train and an old boat on the side of the road leading up to the Port Authority building. The building houses the port police, Coast Guard and of course the Port Authority. It is a good place to take pictures or the harbour and the Venation fortress, There is also a very good and reasonably priced bar restaurant.

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Walking from the bus station to the port you will see some huge vaulted buildings from the 16th c These are the Venetian Arsenals were ships of the Venetian Navel Fleet were once built, repaired and fitted for battle. The sea is now slightly further away and a road has been built them and the harbour. If you go to the History Museum there is an excellent model of how Heraklion used to look and you will see the port with the arsenals on that.

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This Impressive fortress was built in the early 1500s and guarded the old port; it is unique for the impressive mass of its stone fortifications, its immensely thick walls and the views from its turret and roof. The restored interior looks just like a castle should. On the exterior are two carved relief’s of the Lion of St Mark which the Turks surprisingly left intact.

It was €2 to get in and it is open from 0800 to 1930 1st July to 31 October and 0900 to 1500 other times of the year (although I have heard they sometimes they open late and close early)

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The old Venation Loggia is now the city hall of Iraklion and you are allowed to go in and have a quick look around. It is a most impressive building.

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Just off 25th August St is the church of Agios Titos, a beautiful building, Byzantine in origin then rebuilt in the 16th century by the Venetians. The building was taken over by the Turks who converted it into a mosque and rebuilt it after the 1856 earthquake. It was renovated and re-consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Church in 1925. Fronted by a spacious square to the right side are some lovely gardens and the church bells which are situated outside the church like a garden ornament.

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Theotokopoulou (El Greco) square and Gardens (Iraklion) Near the top of 25th August St (Opposite the Loggia) is El Greco square and gardens where some nice looking cafe's spill out into the pedestrian area.

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At the top of 25th August St is El Velizelou Square (Lion Square) and the Morozini Fountain. It was built in 1628 by Francesco Morozini who was the Venetian Governor of the Island. A 16km long aqueduct was built to channel the water to it from Mt Giouchtas. It has 8 circular basins decorated with reliefs of Cherubs, Mermaids, Dolphins, nymphs and mythical creatures. Above the Lions (which are from the 14th c and were incorporated into the fountain when it was constructed) would have been a statue of Neptune.
The fountain works but is very rarely in operation and when we went it was being restored and so had a green net around it. Sort of spoiled the pictures but at least there are not loads of people sat around or on it.
There are some very nice looking cafe's here some of which specialize in Bhougatsa which is a flaky pastry filled with cheese or cream and then drizzled with honey. When we visited Iraklion again later in our holiday the nets had been removed from around the fountain.

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After getting to the end of 25th August St we turned right and walked down Leof kalorkerinou then turned left up a small side St to Agia Ekaterinis Square. We walked across the square and down the side of Agia Ekaterini which the guide book says is now a Theological Museum but was closed; we entered the much more impressive and very much larger Agios Minas Cathedral. Beautifully decorated, and with many fine Byzantine Icons.

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