About 60 km south of Heraklion you can find the other outstanding Minoan palace – Phaestos (also transliterated as Phaistos, Phaestus, or Festos). Built around 1600 BC the castle was abandoned two centuries later (as well as Knossos) for reasons that remain not entirely clear for the archaeologists and historians. Some travelers prefer Phaestos because it hasn’t gone through the massive restoration and renovation as it happened to Knossos. The place looks the way it was discovered over the past century.