Phaistos Palace

Phaistos Palace sits on a ridge overlooking the fertile Messara Plain in southern Crete, one of the great Minoan palatial sites and, as GetYourGuide describes it, the second-largest Minoan palace after Knossos. The first palace here is generally dated to about 1850 BC, though some sources place it closer to 2000 BC; sources vary on the exact chronology, and a newer palace was built around 1700 BC after the earlier structure was destroyed.

Unlike the heavily reconstructed palace at Knossos, Phaistos remains largely in its excavated state. Visitors walk through the West Court, with its theatral steps and tripartite shrine, up a monumental staircase to the Central Court, and on to the royal apartments, storerooms and a series of panoramic viewpoints over the surrounding plain. The Phaistos Disc was found here, a famous and still-debated artefact of Minoan archaeology.

About three kilometres away lies Agia Triada, a royal villa complex closely tied to Phaistos that may have served as a summer residence or an administrative centre linked to the larger palace. Built with an L-shaped plan around courtyards, with views toward the Libyan Sea, Agia Triada has yielded some of Minoan Crete's best-known finds, including the Harvester Vase, the Boxer Rhyton and the painted sarcophagus now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. The Italian School of Athens began large-scale excavations at Phaistos in 1900, led by Federico Halbherr together with Luigi Pernier.