- Parking areas at the Venetian Walls in Heraklion are being closed.
- Municipal police are warning drivers with notes and phone calls.
- The decision follows an order from the National Transparency Authority.
- Hundreds of parking spaces are expected to disappear.
- Residents fear the city’s parking problem will get worse.
Heraklion Parking Problem Enters Its Next Historical Phase
The long-running parking debate in Heraklion has entered yet another chapter, this time involving the Venetian Walls, the Municipal Police, the National Transparency Authority, and several hundred drivers who suddenly discovered that the place they have been parking for years was never supposed to be a parking lot in the first place.
Municipal police officers have begun placing warning notes on vehicles. In some cases, they are even calling owners directly to ask them to move their cars, a level of personal attention that drivers usually receive only when they forget where they left their cars.
At the same time, officers are visiting areas that for years functioned as unofficial parking spaces, explaining to drivers that the era of convenient solutions is coming to an end.
According to Deputy Mayor for Municipal Police Giorgos Karantinos, the goal for now is information rather than punishment, which in Heraklion usually means punishment will arrive later, after everyone has had time to complain.
“We are informing drivers with notes on the vehicles, and we are also calling owners who are in the area. Our priority is to ensure people are fully informed. This process started about ten days ago,” he said.
Places Everyone Parked for Years Suddenly Remember They Are Monuments
Municipal police teams have already been seen in areas such as Eucalyptus and Archbishop Makariou Street, near the KSOS buildings, informing drivers about the changes and preparing the ground for the closure of several parking spots around the Venetian Walls.
The decision comes after an order from the National Transparency Authority, issued following a complaint by the Panhellenic Association of Private Parking Operators, which pointed out that the use of these areas as parking spaces had been illegal for years, despite having been tolerated long enough to become part of everyday life.
According to the complaint, parking along the Venetian Walls violates a 2016 decision of the Central Archaeological Council, which technically existed. However, drivers have learned about it only recently.
The Authority has now instructed the Municipality of Heraklion to block access to these areas, meaning a practice that lasted for years will stop almost overnight, as is usually the case when something is finally enforced after being ignored for a decade.
Seven Parking Areas Disappear, Drivers Wonder Where to Go Next
The ban affects seven different locations along the Venetian fortifications, including areas that for years served as unofficial parking for hundreds of residents and workers near the city centre.
Among the affected spots are:
- The flat area between the Vithouri and Jesus bastions,
- the trench section between the same bastions,
- the interior side of the walls along Plastira Avenue,
- the area north of Pantokrator Gate on Archbishop Makariou Street,
- the space east of Saint Andreas Bastion near the KSOS buildings,
- the trench east of Ikarou Avenue,
- the area between the Martinengo and Bethlehem bastions.
Parking has already been blocked in the area below the statue of Eleftherios Venizelos, a move that many drivers noticed only when they arrived and realised that history had suddenly become more important than convenience.
Hundreds of Spaces Gone, Problem Still Here
The closure of these areas is expected to remove hundreds of parking spaces around the city centre, which in Heraklion is roughly equivalent to removing oxygen from the atmosphere and asking everyone to breathe normally.
Residents say the decision will make an already difficult situation worse, especially in neighbourhoods where finding a parking space after sunset is considered a minor miracle.
Officials, on the other hand, insist the measure must be applied because the Venetian Walls are protected monuments and because decisions taken years ago must eventually be implemented, even if everyone has grown used to pretending they do not exist.
