Cruising through Chania (Κρουαζιέρα στα Χανιά)

Flying into Crete for the first time I was struck by how much it looked like

Sunset at the Old Venetian Harbor

West Texas – rather desert-like instead of lush green, and with white sandy beaches. It’s amazing what perceptions we have before we go somewhere that blows our misconceptions sky high! Crete is a mountainous little island and, as with other mountainous regions, they have a phenomenon called rain shadow. I was seeing the side of the mountain that gets less rain than the rest of the country. Parts of Crete are very green, especially where people raise crops. The olive trees, of which there are thousands, are a grey-green (that would be olive green, of course), the fruit trees are a dark green with spots of bright yellow lemons, and the fields of cabbages, beans, tomatoes, and other vegetables add to the verdant shades that assault your eyes. There are also a dazzling array of flowers that contrast quite nicely with the red-brown cliffs and the bright blue skies. The beaches remained a surprise. If they weren’t craggy, the sand was a dark brown reminiscent of beaches found in south Texas. Just where would I have to go to see white sand; obviously not to Crete. We landed near the city of Chania and because of several delayed/changed/missed flights (see the Around the Island post on July 6^th for reviews) had to make our way to our Airbnb without the aid of our host. This turned out to be a good thing because we got to interact with the local taxi drivers. Not only were they helpful, but they were good natured, funny, and knew a lot about their island. In fact, we only met one old grump during this trip; everyone else we interacted with seemed to be happy.



Chania is the site of the Minoan settlement the Greeks called Kydonia (more about the Minoans in the next blog) and seems to have been

Ruins in Chania

settled around what is not the Old Town area since the Neolithic period. We stayed in Old Town and walked past archaeologic excavations every day; some were described in English and Greek, some only in Greek, and some not at all. After the end of the Minoan period Chania was a city-state extending from Chania Bay to the base of the White Mountains. Sometime around 1100 BC Dorian Greeks from the mainland settled here which did nothing to prevent the constant wars with other Cretan city-states. They built their houses using the ruins from the previous residents or simply building on top of what was already there. I asked our cabbie what happened if someone was building a house and found some of these early ruins. He said that if it was only some foundation stones the authorities would come out, check the find, and release the property; construction would be delayed a month or two; if you found some artifacts such as coins, figurines, or pottery, building might be delayed as much as a year. But if you found a burial site, the best thing to do was to keep it to yourself, sell the property, and move off the island because you were never going to get your house built!

The Greeks weren’t the only ones out to conquer Crete. Between 395 and 824 AD Chania was ruled by the Arabs, who named the city Al

Left T to B: Black Madonna, Face-
less Madonna
Right T to B: Christ, Catholic Church

Hanim, and chased the Christian population (it is unclear just when or how the Byzantines first came to Chania) into the mountains. Arab rule lasted at least 100 years, until the Byzantine Empire retook the city in 961 AD and changed the name back into Greek. The people then began to fortify the city to keep marauders out, but in the process, they destroyed many of the archaeological ruins in order to have raw materials to build city walls. Keeping out the Arabs was one thing; keeping out the Catholics, and thus the Italians, was quite another. Chania became the seat of a bishopric, the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Canea and later the titular see (a defunct diocese) of Cydonia. At the end of the Fourth Crusade (about 1204), Crete was given to Crusade leader, Bonifacio, Marquess of Montferrat, who sold it to the Venetians for 100 silver marks. The people of Crete rebelled and the island was tossed back and forth like a hot potato between the Venetians and the forces of Genoa until Crete was subdued and the Venetians took over the city in 1285. Venetian rule was strict and oppressive until the relations between the Italians and the Cretans improved, intertwining the two cultures without suffocating the Greek Orthodox tradition. Byzantine religion and culture also added to this mix after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when Chania saw an influx of refugees made up of priests, monks and artists. During the period that followed, Chania became a blend of Byzantine, Venetian, and Classical Greek cultural elements.

Two hundred years later the walls of the city fell and the army of the Ottoman Empire overran the city. Many died in the fighting; most churches were turned into mosques and new mosques were built, such

Yali Mosque

as the Yali Mosque on the harbor. The Ottoman also installed public baths (hamam), and fountains. They remained in power until 1878 when the Pact of Halepa (an agreement between the Ottoman Empire and the Cretan Revolutionary Committee) was signed; the agreement was to normalize relations between Muslims and Christians. Once the Pact was in place a large part of the local Muslim population was killed or moved to Anatolia. Twenty years later, in 1898, the rebellion was still not over. Crete wanted to be in a union with Greece rather than an isolated part of the Ottoman Empire. Although Chania had become cosmopolitan and flourishing, regaining its role as the crossroad of civilizations, a series of conflicts between the rebels and Prince George led to the Theriso revolt in 1905. Finally, Prince George was out and by 1913, with many political machinations, Crete was united with Greece. After all the fighting throughout history, you’d think Chania deserved a break, and the city was pretty much left alone until World War II. New Zealanders, British, Australian and Greek troops bombarded German airborne forces from just south of the city until they ran out of ammunition. Once out gunned, the Germans were able to swarm over the Allied troops, occupying the city and taking over the artillery emplacements. George II of Greece fled the city, but a large portion of the population was captured and either executed or imprisoned as resistance fighters. The Jewish community was captured and transported off the island. The Battle of Crete went poorly for the Allies and the island wasn’t out of German rule until the end of the war.

By the end of the 1950s, Chania had regained its normal pace of development. Twenty years later it had become a tourist destination, and

Shopping cat

by the end of the 1990s it had an international airport as well as educational facilities. All of the folks who interact with travelers speak English and many speak several languages. Shopping was great fun. There are plenty of places to investigate that are up the hill from the harbor area. These shops have different items from what we found in the tourist area, and they are generally less expensive. In particular, we liked the places owned and operated by local folks – including restaurants. We did not have a bad meal or an unpleasant experience. We were also quite comfortable walking through the streets during the evening hours, dining in outdoor restaurants, and even dropping into bars for a wee nip before going back to our rooms. There are people on the streets selling souvenirs, but they are polite and don’t pressure you to buy. We saw very few people begging, and they, too, are not pushy. We’d been warned to watch out for pickpockets in the market, but that’s no different from anywhere else in the world where there is a crush of people. What we did find annoying were the college age American males who had been consuming alcohol; they were loud, silly, and perpetuated the stereotype of the ‘ugly American’.

Chania ruins were only the beginning of our exploration of the history of this area. Next week I’ll write about stepping into Greek mythology and nearly putting my foot in it.

Flowers in the Street

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