Herakleion
About the Creative City:
With a cultural legacy dating as far back as 8,000 B.C., Herakleion鈥檚 identity is formed by its unique mix of monuments, natural environment, climate, renowned hospitality, and the city鈥檚 traditional gastronomy, all of which are blended in a modern rural-urban area. The city acknowledges culture and creativity as strategic factors for sustainable development and has already integrated them into the local development plans.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council, considers Heraklion as a 鈥淪ustainable Tourism Destination鈥 and plans to amplify this through its designation with the UCCN. To maximize the assets of gastronomy in the region and unleash its full potential, the city has developed a 鈥淗eraklion Flavours Master Plan鈥, where travellers can taste or buy local food products, while also receiving cultural context of the region.
With a focus on traditional gastronomy, the region is best known for its rich production of agro-products, with 30 million olive trees and two-thirds of cultivatable land dedicated to olive production. The city also takes pride in having more than 150 species of edible greens, considered a cultural and social treasure since prehistoric times.
Aside from this, the Creative City offers a variety of local cheeses and wines (dating back 3,500 years), with professional networks that are among the most active in the country. As a whole, the Cretan diet is central to the local food culture, which is strongly associated with longevity and the consumption of seasonal and local foods.
Added Value:
As a Creative City of Gastronomy, Herakleion is dedicated:
To engage in transforming the city into a sustainable destination that supports the advancement of creativity and the preservation of local tradition;
To strengthen local, national, and international cooperation for exchanging and promoting good practices, developing the city into a gastronomy hub for capacity building;
To undertake networking activities to provide better access for creators and professionals to interact with each other; and
To improve the access to and participation in cultural life, notably for marginalized groups.
