Partial view of the Minoan palace in Festos (or "Phaistos") in South Crete, Heraklion prefecture, Greece

---

Festos (or Phaistos) is the second most important archaelogic site in Crete, after Knossos. It is located at the south of Iraklion (or Heraklion) prefecture, and close to it there is another very important archaeological site, that of Gortyna. If you ever get there, you can also visit the famous Matala beach, that once upon a time was the "capital" of hippies. Here you see small part of the palace of Festos, the royal entrance. Festos is famous for the "Festos disk", one of the great mysteries of archeology.

---

Size: 5616px × 3761px
Location: Festos Palace, Heraklion prefecture, Crete, Greece
Photo credit: © Hercules Milas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ancient, antiquities, antiquity, archaeological, archeology, architectonic, architecture, attraction, attractions, civilization, cretan, crete, destination, disc, discover, entrance, explore, festos, greece, greek, herakleio, herakleion, heraklio, heraklion, important, iraklio, iraklion, island, islands, jar, jars, king, marvel, matala, mediterranean, messara, minoan, minos, mysterious, mystery, palace, phaestos, phaistos, pot, pots, preserved, royal, sight, sights, sightseeing, site, sites, stairs, stone, travel, wall, walls