Chania

Chania stands on one of the oldest inhabited sites in Crete. The hill of Kasteli has been lived on since the Neolithic Age, and Linear B tablets from Knossos name the Minoan town here Ku-do-ni-ja. As Kydonia, ultimately the source of the English word "quince", it became an important city-state of Classical Greece, its land reaching from Chania Bay to the foot of the White Mountains.

Crete passed to Venice after the Fourth Crusade, and in 1252 colonists founded Canea on the site of the long-abandoned ancient city. Its fortifications, begun in 1538, gave the town the form it still has, and the city blended Byzantine, Venetian and Greek culture. In 1645, in the opening months of the Cretan War, an Ottoman army took it after a two-month siege. As Hanya it became the seat of the pasha of Crete; Muslims lived mainly in Kasteli and Splantzia, where the Dominican church of Saint Nicholas became the Sovereign's Mosque, and baths and fountains spread through the town.

In 1898 the Great Powers made Chania the capital of the semi-autonomous Cretan State under Prince George of Greece, and consulates gathered in Halepa. Eleftherios Venizelos, who led the Therisos revolt of 1905, became Greek prime minister, and on 1 December 1913 Crete united with Greece, the flag raised at Fort Firkas. German paratroopers invaded in 1941; part of the city was bombed, many residents were executed or imprisoned, and the Jewish community was deported in 1944. Tourism grew from the 1970s, the capital moved to Heraklion in 1971, and since the 1990s a new airport, port and university have reshaped the city.

Chania keeps a strong sense of its own history. Venizelos is the city's great figure: his house stands in Halepa, and the tombs of Venizelos and his son lie on Akrotiri, overlooking the city. The city has several museums, including the Folklore Museum, the Nautical Museum and a Byzantine collection in the old town, a municipal art gallery, and the Historical Archive, considered the second most important in Greece.

Cultural life is busiest in summer, when plays, concerts and exhibitions are held almost every day, many in the theatre in the eastern bulwark of the old town. The Municipal and Regional Theatre of Crete performs Greek and foreign plays, traditional Cretan musicians play in the town, and three of its five cinemas are open-air. Festivals, conferences and sporting events fill the months from May to September.

The old town mixes its pasts openly: Venetian walls and arsenals, the domes of the harbour mosque, a working synagogue in the old Jewish quarter, Orthodox and Catholic cathedrals, and neoclassical consulates in Halepa. French, German, Italian and Swedish consulates still keep offices in the city.

The municipality of Chania had 111,375 inhabitants in 2021, including the city and nearby areas such as Kounoupidiana, Mournies, Souda, Galatas and Perivolia. Since the 1990s many residents have moved to the suburbs and to once-rural areas, especially around Kounoupidiana, the largest town on the Akrotiri peninsula.

Agriculture and tourism are the two main sources of wealth. Many city residents, not only farmers, own agricultural land, most often olive groves and citrus orchards, and wine, avocados, dairy and honey also matter. Tourism has grown rapidly since the early 1970s, and the long row of beach resorts west of the city is a favourite of Scandinavian charter holidays. Luxury housing prices have risen sharply, by 26 per cent between 2021 and 2024.

Most locals live and work in the modern town south of the old walls, in districts such as Agios Ioannis, Koumbes and Pachiana, where 1950s–70s apartment blocks stand beside surviving neoclassical houses. Souda, the city's port, also hosts the Crete Naval Base, a major Greek and NATO base.

Chania eats the food of Crete, built on olive oil, greens, pulses and cheese. A familiar starter is dakos, a barley rusk soaked in water or olive oil and topped with chopped tomatoes, crumbled feta or mizithra cheese and olive oil. Kalitsounia are small cheese or herb pies, and Sfakian pies are thin pancakes filled with mizithra cheese and drizzled with honey. Lamb and goat are roasted or cooked with wild greens, and graviera of Crete is a hard, slightly sweet cheese of sheep's milk.

Raki, also called tsikoudia, a brandy distilled from grape pomace, is the local spirit, and yoghurt and fresh fruit were long the most common dessert. The olive groves and citrus orchards around the city supply its kitchens, and the Agricultural August programme promotes local produce.

The 1913 covered market on the edge of the old town is popular with locals and visitors alike. Cafés, restaurants and bars line the Venetian harbour, the old moat and Splantzia Square, as well as the Koum Kapi waterfront, and in summer the resort strip of Platanias and Agia Marina is busy too. Chania residents also drive up the gorge to the grill restaurants of Theriso.