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Crete: The Western End

August 11, 2021 /

We’re sure lots of travellers do this, but we have a tendency to give nicknames to bars and cafes rather than call them by their real name. This nickname may be governed by the location (bus bar or corner bar) or by what we ate or drank (fish bar or aperol bar) or something we saw or heard there (dog bar, tree bar, reggae bar).

So we begin our last evening on Serifos at Ugly Woman Bar, gazing out over the evening waters and wishing we were staying longer. But events outside of our control have brought about a rethink and we are off to a new destination. Our journey from Serifos to Crete is a 10-hour trip door to door, including a 3-hour lunch break on Milos between connecting ferries. The brief views of both Milos and Sifnos only convince us more that a return to the Cyclades remains on the agenda.

Earlier on this trip, somewhere along the line, we spotted a restaurant with the tag line: “You’re in Greece. Count the memories, not the calories”. Stepping into the hedonistic night life of Hania, on Crete, makes us appreciate why that tag line has resonance. 

Chania Harbour

Hania – also spelt Chania, Xania or even Khania – is easily the most touristy place of this trip so far, and probably our most touristy destination for some time. But you know, there’s always a reason that places become favourites, there is invariably a certain something that attracted the crowds in the first place. Here, both the waterfront and the old town are beautiful and atmospheric places.

  • Old Chania
  • Old Chania
  • Old Chania

Hania’s beautiful harbour is in three distinct sections, each one completely packed with a line of bars and restaurants overlooking the sea, every one of those restaurants calling us in. The Venetian port in particular is so attractive after nightfall, the modest lighting of the restaurants reflecting in the rippling waters, the curve of the harbour giving great views from every one of those hundreds of tables. Wherever you wander, you feel good.

Chania Harbour
The sea mosque, Chania

Behind the harbour and within the Venetian walls lies the old city, a thrilling labyrinth of tiny narrow streets where the best thing to do is to wander aimlessly and let yourself get lost. Just like the waterfront, these streets are packed with delightful looking restaurants at every turn: we reckon you could be here for three years and eat in a different place every night!

  • Old Chania
  • Old Chania

With 500 years of Venetian rule as well as strong Byzantine, Ottoman, Arab and Turkish adding to the ancient Greek influences, Hania is a fascinating architectural mix, not least because a succession of earthquakes, fires and sieges saw buildings destroyed and renovated multiple times. But the Venetian influence is clear for all to see in the harbour area, from the loggia fronted buildings to grand pallazzi to the hulking arsenali looming over the quayside.

  • Arsenali, Chania
  • Venetian lighthouse
  • Venetian Port, Chania

One of the world’s oldest standing lighthouses is a proud sentry at the entrance to the harbour, originally built by the Venetians in 1595, although given that it’s been renovated or rebuilt at least 5 times we’re not quite sure how it qualifies as one of the oldest!

Hania was also home to Eleftherios Venizelos, probably Greece’s most revered statesman of all time, widely lauded as being unifier of modern day Greece and responsible for incorporating Crete into Greek rule. Venizelos is recognised here in many ways, with statues, street names and dedicated squares. The rather wonderful family tombs sit in beautiful grounds way above the city with magnificent views back across the bay.

  • Eleftherios Venizelos’s House
  • Tomb of Eleftherios Venizelos
  • Chapel near the tomb
  • Raising of the Greek flag

Cretans are proud of a lot more than Venizelos. These are people with a long history of fiercely defending the homeland, a history culminating with the Battle Of Crete in WW2. It is a source of great pride that Crete, without a genuine military force and ineffectively armed, held off the Nazis for longer than nations of much greater size managed to, and was the first of Hitler’s invasions to be met with fierce civilian resistance. The Nazi response once occupation was achieved was brutal: the Jewish population was eliminated and those who had aided the resistance fighters, including monks, were slaughtered.

Demokratikis Square, Chania

But the resistance effort rumbled on and the Cretans never willingly accepted occupation. Their bravery gave rise to this praise from Winston Churchill: “in the future, we won’t say that Cretans fought like heroes, we will say that heroes fight like Crete”.

But back to the present day, and the tourist trap that Hania now is. Restaurants are, as we’ve said, everywhere: indeed, we have eaten in both a roofless bombed out building and a converted Turkish bath. You can even eat in the confines of the one remaining synagogue.

Some of the unusual restaurants………

Hania has a long, varied and proud history. It also has a very lively present. 

Our issues with car hire continue. Fortunately Michaela is blessed with enormous tenacity: she will keep hammering away at a problem with an “I won’t be beaten” attitude long after most of us would have given up. So it is with the car hire problem here. After numerous rejections and being told several times that there simply aren’t any cars available in Hania, she finally nails one and our desire to see more of this end of Crete will at last be satisfied.

  • Agios Nikolaos Chapel, Georgioupoli
  • Inside the tiny chapel

On the last day here without a car, we take the bus out to Georgioupoli, a rather lovely coastal town shaded by towering eucalyptus trees. With a long stretch of sandy beach, a cute chapel out on a causeway and a laid back, fountain filled square, it is a very appealing little town. So much so in fact that we find ourselves wishing we’d based ourselves in Georgioupoli rather than Hania.

Georgioupoli Square
The river at Georgioupoli

For all that Hania has to offer, it is definitely not the peaceful charming experience that so many Greek islands are: something which we now find ourselves very much looking forward to.

  • Chania
  • Chania
  • Chania
  • Chania
  • Chania
  • Chania
  • Chania

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