*Travel Series: Crete, Greece

When I started my blog it was solely focused on beauty but over the past couple of years I've branched out into more lifestyle, food and travel posts, the latter of which I love writing about, particularly my recent posts and social media ravings about the incredibly beautiful country of Norway (more Norway posts will be coming very soon!).

As I love to write about the wonderful places I've visited, I thought I'd take you on a little trip back in time to when I was lucky enough to visit the gorgeous island of Crete in 2010 which seems like a lifetime ago! Unlike recent holiday experiences, I hardly have any photographs from Crete, hence the minimal and poor quality photographs in this post *sorry*.

I've been lucky enough to go on numerous cruises with my family over the past eight or so years and I've visited so many picturesque European cities but sadly only a couple have been greek including Athens and Crete.

Crete is Greece's largest island and we visited it's capital, Heraklion during the summer so it was gloriously sunny and hot as was Athens. We only had a half day in Heraklion so I would love to visit again in the future as it's home to so much history! The main myth associated with Crete is the infamous mythological minotaur which lived in an underground labyrinth at Knossos, the palace complex of the Minoan civilisation.

I've been interested in Greek mythology since I was a child so visiting an island that has so many ties to myth and legends but also to historic events, intrigue and invasions was fascinating. I definitely need to visit again to hopefully explore the archaeological museum which is one of the finest in Greece and holds outstanding Minoan frescos, the cathedral of Agios Minas and the Venetian buildings, features and history around the city.

I would also love to visit Knossos which is just outside of Heraklion, also known as Iraklion and is the site of the palace of Knossos. As well as the ancient Minoan palaces, there are also lots of natural wonders to visit such as the Diction Cave, beautiful beaches and mountains so there's something for everyone to love!

Crete is also filled with winding cobbled streets and lots of places to get souvenirs such as olive oil soap, ouzo which is a Greek aniseed liquor or handmade leather items. There are many places that I've visited growing up that I don't have many photographs of and that I'd love to re-visit and Heraklion is just one of them, along with Athens, Venice, Dubrovnik and of course, Norway (will I ever stop talking about Norway....no). One way that I'd love to explore the island is via a holiday villa as I'd rather live in the city I'm in instead of just being a visiting tourist.

James Villa Holidays have such a wide range of holiday villas in Crete so there is a lot of choice and I can't think of a more relaxed, easy and non-touristy way of visiting another city than with a holiday villa! They also have villas available in Lanzarote and Cyprus, just to name a few.

Have you visited Crete or another Greek island? Have you looked into holiday villas?

*This is a sponsored post