After just 15 minutes drive from Matala, the archeological place of Faistos, the second most important city of Crete in the Minoan period, is located.
This is the place where the dynasty founded by Rhadamanthus, the son of Zeus and Europa, reined. The city has enjoyed great prosperity which can be witnessed by the ruins of glorious palaces.
The excavation in 1908, by the Italian archeologist Luigi Pernier, routed out the famous Disc of Faistos, whose meaning and purpose of construction are still one of the mysteries of archeology. The Disc is kept and exhibited at the Archeological Museum of Heraklion.