A Heraklion walking tour means seeing Heraklion on foot, the largest city of Crete. It is one of the Greece tours on this site. The notes below follow the stroll through the things a city walk brings up: walking itself, cobblestone, street art, walkability, street lights, the bazaar, the coffeehouse, the sidewalk and the painter El Greco, then four street terms. Each term is explained in plain words, and the facts come from reference articles.
What does a Heraklion walking tour mean?
A Heraklion walking tour means seeing Heraklion, the largest city of Crete, on foot. Walking is one of the main gaits of legged land animals. In humans, walking differs from running because only one foot at a time leaves the ground.
Walking is an inverted pendulum gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb with each step. A gait is a pattern of steps, and inverted means upside down. A Heraklion walking tour therefore rests on a very old way of moving. A pendulum is a weight that swings from a fixed point.
Walking speed at crosswalks averages about 5.0 km/h, or 1.4 metres per second. Studies found that older pedestrians at crosswalks walk between 4.51 and 4.75 km/h. A crosswalk is a marked place where people cross a road. A pedestrian is a person on foot.
Walking speed varies with height, weight, age, terrain, surface, load, culture, effort and fitness. Terrain means the shape of the ground, and culture means the habits of a place. An average human child walks independently at around 11 months old. On a Heraklion walking tour, speed is the distance covered in a set time.
Footprints from a former Kenyan shore hint at walking as long as 3 million years ago. Human walking can save about 65 percent of its energy by using gravity. The idea of walking in the countryside developed in Europe during the 18th century. Walking is far older than any Heraklion walking tour.
- Speed: Japan’s standard measure for walking speed is 80 metres per minute, or 4.8 km/h.
- Brisk: A brisk walking speed can be around 6.5 km/h, or 4.0 mph.
- Event: The Labor Day walk on Mackinac Bridge in Michigan draws over 60,000 participants.
A Heraklion walking tour is therefore an old human habit set in a modern city. The next sections look at the parts of a city walk, from cobblestone to street art. Each word is explained in plain terms.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does cobblestone add?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up cobblestone, a natural building material made from cobble-sized stones. Natural here means not made in a factory. A sett is different, because it is quarried and shaped into a regular form. Quarried means cut from the ground.
Cobblestones are set in sand or similar material, or bound with mortar. Mortar is a paste that hardens and holds stones together. Cobblestones set in sand are permeable and move rather than crack as the ground shifts. For a Heraklion walking tour, permeable means that water can pass through.
Cobblestone paving drains water at once and avoids mud in wet weather and dust in dry weather. The noisy surface of cobblestones is an advantage, as pedestrians can hear approaching vehicles. Paving is a hard cover laid over the ground. Vehicles are machines that carry people or goods.
Cobblestone streets became common in European towns and cities during the medieval period. Medieval means from the Middle Ages. Cities such as Paris, London and Amsterdam began paving streets with cobblestones in the early modern period. The early modern period came after the Middle Ages and long before any Heraklion walking tour began.
Asphalt and concrete in the 20th century led to cobblestone use declining. Asphalt is a black mix of stone and tar used on roads. Cobblestone streets are preserved in historic districts for their historical significance and aesthetic charm. Aesthetic means about beauty, and a historic district is an area kept for its past.
- Names: Setts, the shaped quarried stones, are also called Belgian blocks.
- Cities: Zacatecas, Guanajuato and Montevideo are well known for their cobblestone streets.
- Glaciers: Retreating glaciers left small rounded cobblestones in New York’s Finger Lakes Region for building.
Cobblestone adds the oldest layer to a Heraklion walking tour: the ground itself. Stone, sand and mortar have shaped streets for centuries. The next section turns from the road surface to the art on city walls.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does street art bring?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up street art. Street art is visual art made in public places so the public can see it. Public places are places open to all. Street art can use mosaic tiling, LED art, wheatpasting, yarn bombing and rock balancing.
Wheatpasting means gluing paper art to a wall with a paste. Yarn bombing means covering objects in knitted wool. Zloty began producing spray-painted works in public spaces in 1963. Blek le Rat introduced the use of pre-cut stencils in the 1970s. A stencil is a cut sheet used to repeat a shape.
The Kilroy Was Here graffiti of World War II shows a long-nosed man peering behind a ledge. Graffiti means words or pictures drawn on a wall. Street art peaked in the 1980s with spray-painted full-car subway murals, especially in the Bronx. A mural is a large picture painted on a wall.
The northwest wall at Houston Street and the Bowery has been a target for artists since the 1970s. Keith Haring once took over that northwest Bowery wall for his work in 1982. A Heraklion walking tour shares the topic with these New York walls only as an idea.
Murals by Moncada, which declared him the best artist, appeared in SoHo in the late 1970s. Franco the Great has painted over 200 gates across 125th Street on Sundays. A gate here means a metal shop shutter. These artists show how the street itself became a canvas, a story a Heraklion walking tour can recall.
- Tours: Berlin, London, Paris and Hamburg each have street art tours running year round.
- Sights: Street art has become one of the sights to see in European cities.
- Tools: Spray paint, stencils and wheatpaste are three tools that street artists use on walls.
Street art adds colour to the story of a Heraklion walking tour as a form of public art. It began with simple marks and grew into murals and tours. The next section turns from art on walls to the idea of walkability.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does walkability add?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up walkability. One proposed definition says walkability is how friendly the built environment is to people. In urban planning, walkability means that amenities are reachable within a reasonable walking distance. Amenities are useful places such as shops and schools.
Walkability depends on density, mix and access working together in synergy. Synergy means that parts work together better than alone. A mix of homes, schools, workplaces and other places shortens the distances between them. This functional mix contrasts with the early 20th century idea of one function per zone.
In 1961, Jane Jacobs proposed rebuilding cities by increasing urban diversity, density and dynamism. She coined the term eyes on the street, later adopted professionally in urban design. Urban means about a city, and diversity means a wide range of uses. Dynamism means energy and change.
Economic growth in the 1920s led to increased automobile manufacturing. Before cars and bicycles were mass-produced, walking was the main way to travel. Mass-produced means made in large numbers by machines. Economic growth means that a country makes and earns more. On a Heraklion walking tour, walking is again the main way to travel.
Reid Ewing and Robert Cervero named five built-environment factors: density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit. On a Heraklion walking tour, a built environment is the set of streets and buildings that people make. Transit means public transport such as buses and trains. Destination accessibility means how easy places are to reach.
- Copenhagen: Copenhagen made its Strøget street pedestrian-only in the year 1962.
- Barcelona: Barcelona’s superblock model diverts traffic outside key residential and pedestrian spaces.
- Curbs: Curb extensions shrink corners at intersections, calm traffic and shorten pedestrian crossings.
Walkability gives a Heraklion walking tour a plain measure: how easily people reach places on foot. Planners study it with density, mix and access. The next section turns from the whole street to the light that shows it after dusk.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what do street lights bring?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up street lights. A street light is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. A lamp is a device that makes light. Raised means set high above the ground.
Edwin Heathcote wrote that Romans lit their streets with oil lamps. Early lamps served security in ancient Greece and Rome. The earliest lamps needed a lamplighter to tour the town at dusk, lighting each one. A lamplighter is a worker who lights lamps by hand, a trade older than any Heraklion walking tour.
Public street lighting was first developed in the 16th century. The réverbère, a much-improved oil lantern, was introduced in 1745. An oil lantern is a case that holds a burning flame. On a Heraklion walking tour, a lamppost is a tall pole that holds a lamp. Oil lamps burn oil as fuel.
The first widespread street lighting system used piped coal gas as fuel. Frederick Albert Winsor demonstrated the first public gas street lighting in Pall Mall, London, in 1807. Coal gas is a gas made by heating coal. Piped means carried through pipes. Pall Mall is a street in London.
Russian Pavel Yablochkov developed the electric candle arc lamp in 1875. Mosley Street in Newcastle was the first street lit by an incandescent lightbulb. An arc lamp makes light from a spark that jumps between two rods. Incandescent means glowing because of heat. A lightbulb is a glass bulb with a glowing thread inside.
- Switching: Light-sensitive photocells or astro clocks switch a lamp on automatically at dusk.
- Mounting: Réverbère lamps, the improved oil lanterns, were attached to the tops of lampposts.
- Insulator: Film-cutout street lights had a large porcelain insulator separating the lamp and reflector from the mounting arm.
Street lights show how cities moved from oil flames to gas and then to electric light. A Heraklion walking tour is one way to think about that history. After light, the next section looks at the market where goods are sold.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does the bazaar add?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up the bazaar, a marketplace made of multiple small stalls or shops. The word bazaar comes from Persian, where it meant a town’s public market district. Bazaars are traditionally set in vaulted or covered streets with doors at each end.
Bazaars are found especially in West Asia, North Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia and South Asia. Historical records show a bazaar concept in Iran as early as 3000 BCE. BCE is a way of dating years before the common era. A Heraklion walking tour treats the bazaar as an old idea.
Khan al-Mirjan in Baghdad, built in 1359, is the oldest of the preserved urban caravanserais. Preserved means kept in its old state. A caravanserai is an inn built around a courtyard for travellers. The courtyard building goes by names such as funduq, khān, samsara and wakāla. Each name points to the same kind of building.
Ottoman cities had a central bazaar area, called the çarşı in Turkish. Ottoman means from the empire centred on Istanbul. Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is known locally as the Kapalıçarşı, meaning covered market. Turkish is the language of Türkiye. Locally means by the people of the place.
Al-Madina Souk in Aleppo is the largest covered historic market in the world. A souk is the Arabic word for a market. Historic means from the past, and covered means roofed over. On a Heraklion walking tour, a market is a place where goods are sold.
- Shutters: Shops have large shutters that can be locked when the shopkeeper is away.
- Locking: The secure covered area locked its entrances at night or in danger.
- Caravans: Bazaars were also held outside cities where incoming caravans stopped.
The bazaar adds the idea of trade to a Heraklion walking tour: stalls, covered streets and inns. Its name comes from Persian and its idea is very old. The next section turns from the market to the coffeehouse.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does the coffeehouse bring?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up the coffeehouse, also called a coffee shop or café. A coffeehouse largely serves as a center of social interaction. A center of social interaction is a place where people meet and talk.
The first coffeehouses appeared in Damascus. Imams in Mecca viewed coffeehouses as places for political gatherings and drinking. An imam is a Muslim prayer leader in a mosque. A patron is a customer who visits a place. Political means about the affairs of a state, and a gathering is a meeting of people.
The Mecca bans failed, as coffee became ingrained in daily ritual and culture. Coffee and coffeehouses did not exist in Constantinople until about 1555. A ban is an order that forbids something. Ingrained means deeply fixed in a habit. On a Heraklion walking tour, Constantinople is the old name of Istanbul.
The first public coffeehouse in Europe proper opened in Belgrade in 1521. The earliest London coffeehouse was established in 1652 by Pasqua Rosée. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, a country in south-eastern Europe. London is the capital of England. A Heraklion walking tour can recall that coffeehouses spread across Europe.
A coffeehouse can serve as an informal social club for its regular members. Coffeehouses hosted singer-songwriter performances from as early as the 1950s, in the evening. A singer-songwriter writes and sings their own songs. Informal means relaxed and without strict rules. Regular members are people who visit again and again.
- Drinks: A coffeehouse is an establishment serving espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino.
- England: By 1675 England already had more than 3,000 coffeehouses.
- Patrons: Patrons can meet, talk, read, write, or pass the time there, alone or in small groups.
The coffeehouse adds the habit of meeting to a Heraklion walking tour. It began in Damascus and spread to Mecca, Constantinople, Belgrade and London, city by city. The next section turns from the café table to the sidewalk.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does the sidewalk add?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up the sidewalk. A sidewalk is a footpath along the side of a road, designed primarily for pedestrians. In British and South African English, the same path is called a pavement. Irish and New Zealand English call it a footpath.
Sidewalks have existed for at least 4,000 years. The Greek city of Corinth had sidewalks by the 4th century BC. Durable means able to last a long time. BC means before the birth of Christ. Sidewalks are therefore very old. A Heraklion walking tour can recall that sidewalks have a very long past.
The 1766 Act let the City of London raise foot-ways above street level, separated by kerbs. A foot-way is another name for a sidewalk. A kerb is the raised edge of a road. An act is a law passed by a parliament. London is the capital of England.
Paris’s Pont Neuf set trends including wide, raised sidewalks separating pedestrians from traffic. By the 19th century, large and spacious sidewalks were routinely built in European capitals. Pont Neuf is a bridge in Paris. On a Heraklion walking tour, a spacious sidewalk is one with room to walk.
Sidewalks gave people a path to walk along without stepping on horse manure. Where pedestrian traffic exceeds motor traffic, sidewalks can take over half the road width. Manure is animal waste. On a Heraklion walking tour, motor traffic means traffic made of engine-driven vehicles. Exceeds means is greater than.
- Purbeck: Purbeck stone was widely used as a durable paving material.
- Bollards: Bollards were installed to protect pedestrians from traffic in the middle of the road.
- Concrete: Poured concrete sidewalks from as early as the 1860s can be found in good repair in San Francisco.
The sidewalk adds the simplest part to a Heraklion walking tour: a path for people on foot. Its history runs from Corinth to Paris and London. The next section turns from the path to a painter born on Crete.
On a Heraklion walking tour, what does El Greco bring?
A Heraklion walking tour brings up El Greco, the painter. He was born in the Kingdom of Candia, which is modern Crete. Candia is the Venetian name of Chandax, present day Heraklion. Venetian means from Venice. El Greco lived in Venice until 1570.
Around two hundred painters were active in Candia during the 16th century. Giulio Clovio described El Greco as a rare talent in painting. Clovio found El Greco sitting in a darkened room, which he preferred for thought. On a Heraklion walking tour, a painter is an artist who works with paint.
When El Greco arrived, Toledo was the religious capital of Spain. King Philip II of Spain gave El Greco no further commissions. A commission is a paid order for a work of art. Toledo is a city in Spain. Religious means about faith and worship, and capital here means the leading city.
Diego Velázquez was one of the earliest painters influenced by El Greco. On a Heraklion walking tour, influence means the way one artist shapes another. Earliest means first in time. A school of painting is a group of artists who share a style. Conventional means following the usual rules.
Modern scholars call El Greco too individual to belong to any conventional school. His style joins Byzantine traditions with those of Western painting. His dramatic style puzzled his contemporaries, then won appreciation in the 20th century. Byzantine means from the eastern Roman world. Contemporaries are people who live at the same time.
- Pollock: By 1943, Jackson Pollock had finished sixty drawing compositions after El Greco.
- Picasso: While painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso studied El Greco’s Opening of the Fifth Seal.
- Carter: Jimmy Carter spoke of El Greco as ahead of his time in April 1980.
El Greco adds a Cretan-born painter to the story of a Heraklion walking tour. His life ran from Candia to Venice and Toledo, and his style joined two traditions. The next section turns from the painter to the questions that come up before a walk.
Before any Heraklion walking tour starts, which questions come up?
A Heraklion walking tour raises four plain questions about streets. Pedestrian zones keep cars out, and town squares gather people. Awnings give shade, and the Tilia tree has heart-shaped leaves. Each answer below rests on a reference article and uses three facts.
On a Heraklion walking tour, which kind of street keeps cars out?
A pedestrian zone is an area of a city or town for people on foot or human-powered transport. Converting a street to pedestrian-only use is called pedestrianization. Separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old idea, dating back at least to the Renaissance.
Which open space gathers people behind a Heraklion walking tour?
A town square is an open public space found in the heart of a traditional town or city. Squares with fountains are sometimes called fountain squares. The earliest known use of the term town square was in a 1769 edition of St. James’s Chronicle.
Which cloth cover gives shade behind a Heraklion walking tour?
An awning is an architectural projection attached to a building, with a lightweight frame and a covering. An awning gives shade and protection from the weather. Awnings were first used by the ancient Egyptian and Syrian civilizations. A projection is a part that sticks out from a wall.
On a Heraklion walking tour, which tree has heart-shaped leaves?
Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes. The European and Asian species of Tilia are known as linden or lime. The leaves of Tilia species are heart-shaped. A genus is a rank in plant naming that holds related species.