Above the steep gorge of Adrianos in the province of Mirabello rises the rocky outcrop of Fortezza. This inhospitable, steep and naturally fortified rock was chosen by the deposed Minoans to form a small town during the so-called Dark Period.

The current city of Ierapetra is built on the site of the ancient city of Ierapytna. Its current name Ierapetra was preceded by other names such as Kyrva, Kamiros, Pytna, and Ierapytna.

The bay where today's Loutro settlement is built was the port of ancient towns Anopolis and Aradena. This port is mentioned in ancient texts as Phoenix or Katopolis. The gods Zeus and Apollo were worshiped in Phoenix.

The ancient city of Eltynia, Eltyna or Eltynea was dispersed in the present plain of Peza, but its main core was probably located in the current site of the village Kounavi. The main occupation of its inhabitants was viticulture and winemaking, which is still a key sector of the local economy.

This weird memorial column commemorates the kidnap of General Kreipe, maybe the most important military operation in Crete in 1944. The kidnappers stopped the car of the General at this point and started their timely course till reaching the south coasts of Crete and deliver the General in Egypt.

Like dozens of places in Crete, also the area of Kokkino Horio was chosen by the German Nazis during the Second World War to construct several tunnels. The location they chose for the most important of these tunnels was the hill of Drapanokefala that offers panoramic inspection of the entire bay of Souda.

West of the village Tylisos in Malevizi province rises the mount Pirgos with its peak reaching an altitude of 684m. In this steep peak the archaeologist Stylianos Alexiou in 1963 identified one of the most important Minoan Peak Sanctuaries of Central Crete. Religious figurines and stone horns were found, and a rectangular building measuring 13m x 4.50m came to light. It can be reached by walking about 20 minutes from the nearest parking area that is reached by a rural road.

The hill Katrinia in the area of Piskokefalo, province Sitia, hosted one of the most important peak sanctuaries of Minoan Crete, where pilgrims from the surrounding areas came to praise their deities and devote their tributes. Three sacred caves have been identified in the same area, just like in other peak sanctuaries in Crete (e.g. Giouchtas, Pirgos near Tylissos, etc.).

Koufonissi was an economic and cultural center from the Minoan until the Greco-Roman Times and was claimed by all major cities of the region. As recorded on the inscription of the Magnites currently embeded on the facade of the Toplou monastery church, there was a great dispute between Itanos and Ierapytna about Lefki island. In 132BAD the island was owned by Itanos.

The History of Burial is a very special venue in Heraklion city. It is housed in the two-storey ossuary of the old cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen in Heraklion, which was built in 1890.

The archaeological site of Kommos is located 4km west of Phaestus, near Pitsidia and Matala. Kommos (or Komos) was a small Minoan town founded in 2000BC and served the port needs of Phaestus, with which it was linked by road. Kommos was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 1700BC, but survived up to the Hellenistic period.

The historic Monastery of Odigitrias on the way to Agiofaraggo hides many treasures. Beyond the monastery itself with such great history and the tower of Xopateras, it conceals another surprise north of the monastery. This is the prepalatial necropolis of Odigitria, named after the monastery, as we still don’t know the name of the town it belonged to.

Kofinas is the highest peak in the wild Asterousia Range with an altitude of 1231m and gets its name from its shape resembles an inverted basket (kofini in Greek). The top, with stunning views to the Libyan Sea, today hosts a temple of the Holy Cross (Timios Stavros), celebrating on September 14.

On the rocky hill Papouri, located northeast of the beach of Tripiti, high above the tavern, we meet the remains of a Minoan settlement. The first excavations were made in 1986-88 by archeologist Antonis Vasilakis. A vaulted tomb of 2800-2000BC was also been found 200m on the south.

The Minoan mansion of Sklavokambos was discovered in 1930, while constructing the main road to Anogia and part of it was destroyed by the works. It is a multiple-story building with a main room where a clay ox head was found, along with a Late Minoan IB period style jug and a stone rhyton. The building had at least 17 rooms.

Priniatikos Pirgos is a small peninsula that separates the two beaches of Agios Panteleimon Karavostasis upon which an important Minoan settlement has been identified. The settlement has been mapped by the American and Irish Archaeological School. It was inhabited from the Minoan till the Ottoman Era and was highly depended on its harbor. Important findings are kilns for ceramics production.

The Minoan settlement of Vasiliki is located across the exit of the gorge of Ha and near the Minoan settlement of Gournia, at an elevated point that controlled the valley of Ierapetra.

The archaeological site of Gournia is located on a hill west of Pachia Ammos, near the road connecting Agios Nikolaos to Ierapetra, 19km east of Agios Nikolaos. The city flourished in the Minoan period and is the most complete excavated Minoan town in Crete. Because of its good conservation, it was named as the "Pompeii of Crete". The excavation of Gournia was implemented by an American Archaeology Group, headed by Harriet Boyd, in 1901-1904.

Psira is a small uninhabited islet located 1 mile north of Tholos beach, situated at the northeastern edge of the Gulf of Mirabello. In Psira a Minoan settlement of 15-20 acres has been found, being one of the most important sites in Crete.

The islet Scoglio de Muflo of the Venetians, which is the island opposite of Mochlos, seems to have been a very important commercial center and port in antiquity till the Byzantine Era. The island, also called Psilos (i.e. Flea) (opposed to a larger island to the west called Psira, i.e. lice) is an archaeological site that still gets excavated.