We visited 3 of the 5 sites during our visit to Crete in Feb 2022.

Our first introduction to Minoan ruins was actually at Phaistos. It was an easy hour drive from Heraklion first thing in the morning and we had the site to ourselves. As previously mentioned the location is fantastic with great views in all directions. The site is in a state you'd expect when visiting "ancient ruins", the form is there and you can fairly easily make out all the structural elements though the only remaining artifacts are a few storage jars (pithoi) scattered about at the ends of various chambers. This site is worth a visit for anyone seriously interested in the Minoans and if it weren't part of a serial site that looks a long way off from getting inscribed could easily get in on its own.

From Phaistos we drove back to Knossos. I think visiting them in this order helped us to not find Phaistos as underwhelming as others have because it is significantly smaller than Knossos. For us it might have been the opposite as I found Knossos a little strange. It had the second highest entry fee we found in Greece (after the Acropolis) which felt unjustified. The reconstructions can be a little distracting and the story of Evans has been well told elsewhere but what I found more frustrating was that I felt like the info signs were more about the history of Evans and his work there than about the Minoans themselves.  Maybe they really only know that much. Maybe Evans has just completely overshadowed the whole Minoan thing by being the most prominent figure at the most prominent Minoan site. Maybe they need to rethink their whole approach on this nomination and what they are doing. Nevertheless, we were happy to be once again the only visitors on site and I was impressed by the size of a ruin usually characterized as a "palace" but is obviously so much more. I just wasn't mentally prepared to feel like I was walking around in an outdoor exhibition on early 20th century archaeology.

Our third site was Kydonia. It's not somewhere you go specifically to visit but since it is only a block or two away from Chania harbour it is an easy extra tick. The ruins are a small covered area below street level and only half a square block. See the included photo, that's pretty much all of it. It's not enough to give you a sense of anything on its own and I can't see how it adds to the other components of the nomination. We enjoyed Chania though so certainly don't feel robbed of any effort having seen it.

I don't know if it was a winter thing, covid thing, construction thing or just the way things are now but both Phaistos and Knossos had large sections roped off and inaccessible. It shouldn't/wasn't always this way because there are info signs and benches beyond the ropes at both sites. There was quite a bit of construction going on at Knossos too which I guess they'd have to try to get done in the off season.