Crete: A drive to Chania
On our second full day in Crete, my mum, my sister, and I drove to Chania. The agenda for the day was to briefly walk around the town and then find a beach somewhere nearby. The former was the easier part of the plan. We parked the car in the south and, after figuring out the parking payment system, walked north into the centre of town.
The eastern end of
Chania’s historic centre contains the Ahmet Ağa Minaret and the bizarre Church of
Saint Nicholas: converted into the mosque under the Ottomans and back again to
a church after Greece achieved independence, the building has both a bell tower
and a minaret. To the west of these sites lie the remnants of the town’s
Byzantian fortifications as well as the Archaeological ruins of Minoan Kidonia
– another site that dates to Europe’s oldest civilisation.
The Old Port of Chania
is lined by picturesque terraced houses, practically every single one of which
rises above a waterfront restaurant. On the eastern end of the port stands the
intriguing Küçük Hasan Mosque. Its large central dome is supported by buttresses
and is flanked on the western and northern side by four smaller domes each. Opposite
the mosque, on the western side of the port, stands the Firka Venetian
Fortress. Climbing to the top, I got a great view of Lighthouse of Khania,
which towers above an outlet that almost seals off the harbour.
After eating ice
cream, we finished our tour of the city. We followed a Jewish couple who had
rung the doorbell to the historic Etz Hayyim Synagogue, taking a quick look
inside the quaint building. While my mum and sister shopped around, I also
peeked into the Presentation of the Virgin Mary Metropolitan Church. Driving
around fifteen minutes eastward, we made a brief stop at the Venizelos Graves.
This is where Eleftherios Venizelos, the father of modern Greece, lies buried
along with his son Sophocles, three-time Prime Minister of the country.
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