Natural Beauty
In the hinterland of Heraklion's municipality is dominated by low hills with vineyards, olive groves, orchards, low vegetation with prevalence of fryganwn and aromatic plants, with the variety of different species of endemic plants and small valleys and small canyons.
The climate of this region as well as the whole of Crete in General has contributed to shaping a very rich flora, with different ecosystems, composing a set of rare diversity. Perhaps no other area of land with an area of Crete, it contains many species of plants. On the island there are 1624 native wild species from which 170 are endemic of Crete. Endemic plants are unevenly distributed and the majority are found in high mountains, gorges and isolated areas. Some of these are very rare or are at risk.
Analogue in variety and interesting is also the fauna of the region The main classes that exist in the area are small mammals, rodents, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates and vertebrate, while the most prominent animals are weasels, zoyrides, hedgehogs, badgers, etc. have great interest in the populations of birds as predators, which meet in the ecological park of Giouchtas are at the southern edge of the municipalitywhere there is one of the largest colonies of prey.
The unknown Canyon of Venerato is located 17 km south of Heraklion, very near Venerato village in Paliani Monastery. The deep part of the Gorge is very small in length (approximately 500 m), but the beauty of leaves unaffected the visitor.
In the village of Pirgou is the Mertzanis Cave at Mertzani place.
The cave is situated on a hill, inside the Church of Saint George in Agios Syllas, municipal section Temenos of municipality of Heraklion.
Profitis Ilias cave in Temenos. Going for refuge cave. Detected residues of the Minoan period. The cave "efantase". Many caves are known by the same name.
In the natural landscape of the former municipality of Temenos dominates the massif of Rocas, almost in the center of the space. A Hill with two peaks, opened like a pomegranate in half (as poetically says in the 16th century the Venetian engineer Basilicata to visit and depicts the area). The highest peak of Roka, rises to 507 meters.
Point of exceptional natural beauty is the Gorge (full of fossils), the river crosses, boundary between the area of Temenos and the region of Paliani.
The Gorge of Saint Charalambos is a small, but beautiful gorge that lies south of the village of Ano Asites.
In the village of Kato Asites there are two caves of special beauty.
Flora
The diversity of fauna in the area is small, due to the existence of shading by the species is recently plane tree and bramble.
West of the village of Ano Asites village river passes which starts initially in the Gorge of Saint Charalambos, soon turns into a deep and impressive Gorge, the Gorge of Agios Antonios.
