Heraklion Venetian Port

This guide to the Heraklion Venetian Port follows the fortress of Koules from its unusual foundation, sunken ships packed with stone in the fifteen twenties, through its completion in 1540 as a stronghold with vaulted chambers used for grain, gunpowder and rebellious prisoners. You will hear how it held through the twenty-one-year Ottoman siege that began in 1645, and about the long stone vaults of the old Venetian shipyards still standing beside the water.