About 8 km south of Rethymno, along the road to Spili, lies the well-signposted archaeological site of Armenoi. It is a cemetery with more than 200 chamber tombs dated to the Late Bronze Age.

Our ideas of the past are often based on mere scraps of evidence. Nowhere is this more literally true than when it comes to reconstructing ancient wall-paintings, such as the “Saffron Gatherer” from Knossos.

On the southern coast of Crete, a little north of Matala, lies Kommos, the site of a Minoan harbour town. While not open to the public, you can get a good sense of the site from behind the fences.

Located about 30 km east of Rethymno is Gerontospilios (“Old Cave”), more commonly referred to in English as the Melidoni Cave, an underground site of great historical significance.

Located on the southern coast of Crete, Matala is a modern beach-side resort with a history that stretches back to ancient times. The only visible remains of the distant past are the artificial caves near the beach.

High in the Dicte mountain range along the Lasithi Plateau in Crete is the Psychro Cave, which may have been the place where, according to myth, the great god Zeus was raised.

One of the longest extant ancient Greek inscriptions is found in Gortyn, an ancient city in Crete. The text was inscribed in the fifth century BC, but some scholars purport that parts of it are reflective of an earlier era.

The remains of the ancient city of Lato in Crete are well worth visiting. This archaeological site, located in the mountains, features the remains of houses, public buildings, and public spaces.

The collection of the archaeological museum of Iraklion includes reliefs of armed horsemen from the temple unearthed at Prinias, one of the oldest stone temples in Greece.

No archaeological site in Crete gives you a better idea of what it must have been like to live in a Minoan town than Gournia, located on the Isthmus of Ierepetra.