Discover

Chania City

1. Walking around

Chania can be divided into the old town and the new town. The old town surrounds the harbour and is typically Venetian, with plenty of the Turkish architecture and townscape still visible in the narrow streets and baths. Most of the interests to travellers are in the old town, however Chania town has a thriving new area which should not be forgotten. From all perspectives on the harbour it is possible to see the pretty Venetian Lighthouse. Walking along the waters edge of the harbour, you will see different perspectives of the pretty little harbour with all its colourful houses, now converted into cafes, restaurants and pensions

2. Shoping

The ‘new town’ of Chania has all the shops that you would expect in any city (food, clothing, electric goods to name a few) and not many tourists will venture in it because the ‘old town’, besides being much more pleasant, traffic free and picturesque, has a huge variety of shops that are more interesting to tourists. You will ﬁnd just about everything from tourist souvenirs to very creative jewelery and pottery, imported goods from India or Indonesia, local crafts, traditional Cretan knives, olive wood, natural products made with local herbs, oils and plants and that’s just to name a few. Chania is a great place for shopping and there are some real bargains to be had.

3. Architecture

The Venetian characteristics are quite apparent in the architecture of Chania and the most important is the Venetian lighthouse at the port, the beautiful two-storey houses in the Chania Old Town, the Clock Tower as well as many Byzantine churches and mosques. The Venetian port of Chania is also a remnant of that period, with the Venetian arsenals at one side and the Ottoman baths at the other. During the 15th century, beautiful fortiﬁed houses which belonged to the noble families appear in the countryside of Crete. The addition of fortiﬁcation works begun in the 14th century and lasted for 20 years in Chania leaving a plethora of strong castles and forts at the top of the hills and splendid buildings that survive to this day.

4. Taste

Set out on an exhilarating journey of gastronomic imagination to Chania, one of the most desired Cretan destinations. Search for all the ingredients of the world renowned as the Cretan diet: aromatic herbs and fresh edible weeds, virgin olive oil, pulses and vegetables, cereals, ﬁsh, meat, dairy products, honey and fennel. Taste culinary delights like fresh handmade wedding cookies, dry bread wreaths, yraviéra cheese, sweet smelling anthótyros from Sfakiá (fresh, soft, white cheese made of either sheep’s or goat’s milk), fresh stàka butter (the cream of the butter) for the Cretan wedding rice (rice cooked in meat broth), roasted goat or sea food delights – special ingredients blended in delicious sea-urchin salads or divine ﬁsh soups