Episode 855 – Rocca a Mare, Heraklion’s Venetian Fortress

Heraklion has a long history of fortification. The Minoans used the harbour for trade at least 2000 years BCE, and the Romans had a well-protected harbour here during their era.

There are no “fort” remains from those periods, only remnants of villas and palaces, but the fort that stands here now replaced was has been verified as a pre existing 7th/8th-century Byzantine tower, erected to guard the city against the incursions of Saracen pirates. Eventually, that tower proved to be insufficient, and the city was occupied by the Arabs in the early 9th century CE.

Then, taken directly from greeka.com:

“In 1211 CE, the city was conquered by the Genoese, and, some years later, it passed into the control of the Venetians, who reconstructed the Byzantine fort.

After being severely damaged by devastating earthquakes both in 1303 and in 1508, it was decided that the tower should be pulled down, so that a new fortress, better suited to the needs of warfare after the introduction of gunpowder, could be built in its stead. Construction works began in 1525, using a very interesting method: the embankments needed for the fort’s expansion were made by filling old ships with stones and sinking them just outside the north side of the mole. In this way, the ships functioned as breakwaters. Works finished in 1540 and the new fort was called Rocca a Mare (fort by the sea)”

The current approach to the fort from the city. The wall on the left is a continuation of the city walls.

On the side facing the sea, the winged lion of Saint Mark, the patron saint of Venice, is still un-eroded enough to identify.

During Ottoman rule, after Heraklion fell in 1669 CE, the fort was often repaired, but it did not undergo any significant modifications, apart from the addition of battlements with openings for cannons and rifles. That means that what we toured today is essentially the same mid 16th century building that, in combination with the city walls, repelled the Ottoman Turks for 21 years in the 17th century.

I was excited to be able to visit a site where the history is well documented.

It happens more frequently as we travel more: that sense of not quite déja-vu, but a memory sharply brought back.

As we stepped into Heraklion’s Venetian fortress, I was suddenly struck by memories of walking through the arches of Diocletian’s Palace in Split, Croatia. (Episode 223).

The ground floor consists of 26 rooms/compartments which were used to store supplies and ammunition, while some of them served as prison cells.

When Crete was conquered in 1211, Venice established in Candia (Heraklion) the administrative center of the island. The importance the Venetians gave to the city is evident by the fact that Candia was the first town they conquered and the last they abandoned to the hands of the Ottomans, four hundred and fifty years later, after a fierce resistance that lasted 21 years.

Let’s call this a Ted Talk. The light shining down on the podium is not heavenly, but rather a good example of the broad fanlights that are a distinctive feature of the fort.

I suppose that to some extent, every conquered fort has a sad story, but Heraklion’s story – and as a corollary all of Crete’s – was expressed very movingly here.

Note Victor Hugo’s words on the sign below:

There was a very moving poem, translated into English, that described the fall of Heraklion (Candia) to the Ottomans. It’s quite long, but it impressed me so much that I wanted to save an image of it.

Not just the fort, but also the sea around it bore witness to history.

The cargo of Byzantine magarica, as amphorae were called by Byzantines, was located at a depth of 39 to 45m and investigated by Cousteau team, as Shipwreck Il, in April 1976. The recovery of them took place under the supervision of the Cretan archaeologist Nikolaos Papadakis and yielded 129 vessels, the majority of which was the cargo of the ship. Just some of them were different, used obviously as crew utensils. Ships of the time used to have a roofed kitchen, usually in the stern of the vessel, while the load of the jars was stowed in the hold of the ship. According to the type of the amphorae the wreck can be dated from the 9th to the 11th century AD. It probably belongs to a ship traveling to or from Crete during the heyday initiated after the recapture of the island by the Arabs, which succeeded by the byzantine general, later emperor, Nikiforos Fokas, in 961 AD.

From the ground floor displays we ascended stone stairs into the bright sunshine and blue skies that have so enchanted us here this week (rain is predicted in a couple of days, so we’re taking full advantage now.)

The upper floor is made up of a big courtyard surrounded by crenellations. It once housed the soldiers’ barracks, the officers’ quarters, a bakery, a mill and a small church. Only the courtyard and half of the ramparts are accessible to tourists.

The staircase between the two levels is now sheltered by a glass “greenhouse”.

Each of the glass-covered squares is a fanlight open to the ground floor.

The view back toward Crete’s only year-round snow-capped mountain,

Waiting outside the city-facing lookout.

At the highest point on the ramparts (other than the lighthouse) the Greek flag attested to the lack of breeze.

On the north side, there was also a lighthouse, which was restored in 1864 by the French Society of Ottoman Lighthouses.

We ended our day with souvlaki at O,ti Thes Grill. I was craving protein, and we’ve been pretty good about fending for ourselves with dinner from our mini kitchen, so a treat felt worthwhile. The entire dinner below came in at €47.50($77CAD).

We ordered a Greek beer and a half bottle of Retsina to go with our meals.

Deep-fried Greek cheese, spit-roasted lamb, and a huge grilled veal chop.

As we’re learning is the custom here, a complimentary small sweet dessert and a vial of freezing cold raki (enough for 5 shots) appeared at the end of our meal.