Chania Day Trip

A Chania day trip is a one-day outing from Chania, the city on the north-west coast of Crete, to a village, a gorge or an ancient site in the west of the island. It is one of the Greece tours that join old harbours, mountain villages and the south coast.

What is a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip means seeing the city of Chania in Crete within one day. The city holds buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries. Each building belongs to a longer story of the island’s rulers and laws.

Two buildings from the late 19th century set the scene for a Chania day trip. Eleftherios Venizelos’s House in Chania was built between 1876 and 1880. The Palace in Chania, built in 1882, housed Prince George during Cretan independence. Independence here means the years when Crete ruled its own affairs.

The Treaty of Berlin in 1878 was a written agreement between countries. It led to the Pact of Halepa for Crete. A pact is a formal deal, so the name points to an agreement made on paper. Both names belong to the political story of Crete that a Chania day trip can explain.

The Chania prefecture, a local unit of government, began during the years of Crete as an autonomous state. An autonomous state rules itself. The prefecture was kept after 1913. Knowing this civic history gives a Chania day trip more meaning, since government shapes how a city grows.

The Church of Agia Magdalini in Chania was built between 1901 and 1903. The Court House of Chania, called Dikastiria, dates from late in the 19th century. Between 1924 and 1927, the Garden Clock-Tower of Chania, known as Roloi, was built. The Episcopal Residence, a bishop’s home called Despotiko, dates from the early 19th century.

• Consulates: Chania has French, German, Italian and Swedish consulates, which are offices that represent those countries.
• Naval base: Crete Naval Base at Souda is a Greek and NATO base, NATO being a military alliance.
• Squares: Chania’s largest central squares are Market Square, Court House Square and 1866 Square.

Since the 1990s, Chania has gained a new airport, port and educational facilities. Its old French school now belongs to the Technical University of Crete. A Chania day trip therefore meets a city shaped by both old history and recent change.

What does Aptera add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains Aptera, a very old settlement that people call an ancient city. This city-state, which ruled itself, was powerful from Minoan times, the early age of Crete. Its power lasted all the way through the Hellenistic period, a later age of ancient Greece.

Aptera stands on a hilltop that rises about 150 metres above the sea. The site lies east of Chania city. It sits a kilometre inland from the southern shore of Souda Bay, a sea inlet. The hilltop overlooks that bay and Akrotiri, a peninsula, or land that juts out into the sea.

Linear B is an early form of Greek writing that was pressed into clay tablets. Tablets from the 14th-13th centuries BC mention the city under the name A-pa-ta-wa. Those tablets add early written history to a Chania day trip. The name Aptera itself literally means “without wings”.

The ancient Greeks told a story of a contest at Aptera. It pitted the Sirens, singing sea spirits, against the Muses, goddesses of the arts. Aptera was allied with Knossos for a time in 220 BC, during the Lyttian War. Myth and war together give a Chania day trip stories from the ancient world.

An earthquake destroyed the city during the 7th century. By the 12th century, a monastery of St. John Theologos stood on the site. A monastery means the shared home of a group of monks. That monastery stayed in operation until 1964. These monastery years add a religious chapter to a Chania day trip.

• Temple: The site holds a two-part temple, a building for worship, from the 5th century BC.
• Cistern: A Roman cistern on the site, a tank for storing water, has three vaults, or arched roofs.
• Conflict: In the third century BC, Aptera was at war with Kydonia.

Aptera gathers early writing, an ancient myth, wars, an earthquake and a monastery in one place. Each layer of that past gives a Chania day trip more depth. In that way, one hilltop holds a long human story.

What does Falasarna add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip adds Falasarna, an ancient harbour city that stood long ago. Falasarna was a maritime power, which means a state that was strong at sea. Its harbour, a sheltered place where ships dock, was the source of its wealth.

Falasarna gives a Chania day trip a story of war and peace. A war with Polyrrhenia ended around 290 BC after Cleonymus of Sparta mediated. Mediated means he stood between the two sides to help the two sides agree. The peace treaty was carved on a stone tablet, now kept in the Kissamos museum.

Venetian records mention Falasarna only as a lost city, after its location had been forgotten. Today, the acropolis, the high part of an ancient city, has a temple to the goddess Dictynna. It also holds cisterns, which are water tanks, plus wells and watchtowers for keeping watch.

Excavators, who dig up ancient sites, uncovered five towers of the defences around the harbour. A chain was able to close the artificial channel, a waterway made by people. The channel linked the military harbour to the sea. These defences add a military chapter to a Chania day trip.

A merchant’s house at the foot of the acropolis held imports, notably those from Cyrenaica in North Africa. Imports are goods brought in from other lands, and exports are goods sent out for sale. A winery and its adjoining warehouses show that Falasarna also produced goods for export.

• Self-rule: Falasarna was a city-state, meaning a city that ruled itself, with its own laws and coins.
• Road and baths: A paved road to the acropolis runs right beside a room filled with stone baths.
• Stone throne: A two-metre high stone throne in the cemetery area is thought to honour the Phoenician goddess Astarte.

A Second World War landing craft wreck lies where the ancient channel entrance meets the sea. A landing craft is a military boat that carries troops to shore. A Chania day trip that includes the site therefore spans more than one era of history.

What does Paleochora add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip that adds Paleochora brings in a town with a Venetian fort. That fort gave its name to the whole province, once called Orina, which became Selino. A province is a large area that a ruler governs as one unit.

A fort is a sturdy structure built to protect a place. The Venetian fort was destroyed in 1332 and rebuilt in 1334. In 1645 the Turks conquered the town and changed the fort for their own needs. These dates give a Chania day trip to Paleochora a clear timeline.

In 1834 English traveller Robert Pashley found the fort completely destroyed and the area uninhabited. Uninhabited means that nobody lived there. Only a granary and one or two small buildings were left standing. A granary is a building where grain is stored. That finding shows how much the fort had lost by then.

The resettlement of Paleochora began in 1866. Resettlement means that people settle a place again. In December 1866 a British gunboat took roughly 340 women and children from Paleochora for safety. They went to Piraeus, a port. This part of the story belongs to any Chania day trip that adds Paleochora.

The British evacuation caused a major international incident. The reason was that Ottoman officials accused the British of taking the side of Cretan rebels. Russian gunboats followed, taking refugees, or people fleeing danger, from Loutro and Sougia, east of Paleochora. So a Chania day trip to Paleochora touches a story that reached other countries.

• Battle of Crete: German motorcycle troops fought the Eighth Greek Regiment, an army unit, in the town.
• Gun emplacements: The Germans built these gun positions by the Venetian fort, and their remains are still visible.
• Gavdiotika: Islanders from Gavdos created this community in the old town section of Paleochora.

Paleochora has been a holiday destination since the early 1970s, when hippies liked it. A holiday destination is somewhere people pick for travel when they want a break. That holiday past is one more thing Paleochora adds to a Chania day trip.

What does Sougia add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains extra depth from Sougia. The place offers a beach, walkways and mountains. It also has old churches and the remains of an ancient city. The term ancient city names a town that people built long ago.

Syia, an ancient city, flourished in the Roman period and in the first Byzantine period. Byzantine means linked to the eastern Roman Empire. Syia has Roman ruins and three large Palaiochristian basilicas. Palaiochristian means early Christian, and the word basilica names a large church hall. This past adds Roman history to a Chania day trip.

Robert Pashley found remains of the city walls and public buildings at Syia in the 19th century. Syia set up a monetary union with Yrtakina, Elyrus, Lissus and Tarrha. A monetary union is a deal to share one money system. Records like these give a Chania day trip a long history behind it.

Lissos had powerful trading and fishing fleets. A fleet is a group of ships working together. The chapel of Panagia at Lissos is built with ancient marble blocks. The Virgin Mary is called Panagia in Greek, and marble is a smooth, hard stone. Sea history like this adds colour to a Chania day trip.

A mosaic from the Byzantine basilica in Sougia’s village church is now displayed in Chania’s Archaeological Museum. A picture built from small pieces of stone or glass is called a mosaic. The ancient Greeks told of Odysseus and a Cyclops, a giant with one eye. Legend links the Cyclops of that adventure to Sougia.

• Koustogerako: This village in the Sougia community has a population of 25.
• Moni: This place, also in the Sougia community, has a population of 8.
• Wartime: In 1943 German forces destroyed Livadas, Moni and Koustogerako as punishment for actions by resistance fighters.

Syia also took part in the Koinon of the Oreioi. Koinon is a Greek word for a league, which is a group of cities joined by an agreement. Sougia, its villages and its ruins give a Chania day trip a clear sense of place.

What does Agia Roumeli add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains deep history from Agia Roumeli, a village that was once called Tarra. The ancient poet Homer names Tarra among the Hundred Cities of Greece. That makes the village a place with a very old written record.

Tarrha was one of the earliest places where people worshipped the god Apollo. The ancient Greeks told how Apollo went to Tarrha to be cleansed by the priest Carmanor. This happened after Apollo killed Python. A cleansing is a religious act of making a person clean again.

The works of Pausanias, Stephanus of Byzantium and the Stadiasmus Maris Magni all mention Tarrha. Tarrha was one of the cities that signed an agreement with Eumenes II in 170 BCE. BCE marks years counted backward from the year one. A Chania day trip plan that mentions Tarrha has written records to lean on.

The coins of Tarrha show the head of a Cretan wild goat, an arrow and a bee. Tarrha also shared a monetary union with Elyros, Yrtakina and Lissos. A monetary union is a group of cities that share one kind of money. Such coins give a Chania day trip story solid proof.

Robert Pashley, a student of the past, became the earliest modern archaeologist to locate Tarrha. The area of Tarrha held scattered stone stele inscribed with a double axe symbol. A stele means a standing stone slab that carries carved marks. A double axe is a tool with a blade on each side.

• Author: Tarrha was the birthplace of the author Lucillus, also called Loukillos.
• Poet: Chrysothemis, a poet and the son of Carmanor, was from Tarrha.
• Glass: In the Middle Ages, the centuries after ancient times, Tarrha was known for its glass workshops.

Ancient Tarrha stood near the sea, on a hill. Myth, coins and written records all tell of this one place. Anyone planning a Chania day trip can use these facts to see how deep this story runs.

What does Loutro add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains a small coastal village when Loutro is added to the plan. The Greek word for bath is the source of the name Loutro. Ancient baths found in the area gave the place that name, which the village keeps today.

Loutro later became the wintertime port of Sfakia, thanks to its natural protection in harsh weather. Harsh weather means strong wind and rough seas. On the coast, a port is where ships load, unload and rest. Saracen pirates also used Loutro as a lair, a hideout, for raids on ships sailing south of Crete.

The Venetians fortified Loutro with a small fortress, and its ruins are still visible today. People build a fortress, a strong building, for defence. A second fortress in Loutro, kept in better condition, is evidence of the Turkish presence. Both fortresses give a Chania day trip a link to the past.

Ships were once built in the gulf of Loutro, which merchant ships also used. A large bay of the sea is called a gulf. Sailors from Loutro travelled around the Mediterranean Sea and as far as Russia. That record of sailing gives a Chania day trip a strong link to the sea.

Daskalogiannis was a wealthy shipbuilder who owned four large three-mast ships. A shipbuilder is a person who builds ships for a living. A three-mast ship carries three tall poles that hold its sails. Stories like his add a person to the story of a Chania day trip.

• Harbour: The gulf and its islet, a small island, form a natural harbour that keeps ships safe.
• Phoenix: Of ancient Phoenix only the name remains, kept by a village in the bay west of Loutro.
• Paul: Paul tried to proceed west along the coast to Phoinikas, a village.

Tourism and fishing make up much of the economy of Loutro today. An economy is the way people in a place earn their living. For a Chania day trip, the village is a working place as well as a historic one.

What does Sfakia add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip adds Sfakia, a Cretan municipality that is among the largest and least densely populated. A municipality is a local government unit, a district that has a council of its own. Least densely populated means that fewer people live on each stretch of land.

The beaches of Sfakia do not see the tourist numbers of the northern coast. That sets Sfakia’s shore apart on a Chania day trip. No coastal road connects the coastal villages of Sfakia, but ferry boats can reach them. A ferry is a passenger boat that sails along the shore.

The E4 is a European hiking footpath, a trail made for people on foot rather than for cars. It crosses Crete through the mountains of Sfakia. Hiking means walking in the countryside for pleasure. That makes the mountains known to walkers, not only to people on a Chania day trip.

Patrick Leigh Fermor wrote about the tall proud Sfakians and their resistance to occupation. Sfakians are the people of Sfakia. Occupation means a foreign power ruling a land, and resistance means standing against that rule. His writing adds a human story to the map of Sfakia, told through its people.

Hora Sfakion carried on a flourishing trade with its own small fleet up to the 18th century. A fleet is a group of ships, and trade means buying and selling goods. Hora Sfakion has a harbour, a sheltered place where boats stay. That trading past adds history to a Chania day trip in Sfakia.

• Harbourfront: Along Hora Sfakion’s main harbourfront stand tavernas (Greek restaurants), a bakery, a butcher shop and two minimarkets.
• Loutro: The village of Loutro is car-free, so cars must be parked in Hora Sfakion or Paleochora.
• War history: Hora Sfakion suffered badly from wartime bombardment, meaning heavy shelling, during the Battle of Crete.

The Sfakians are famous for their hospitality and generosity towards guests. Hospitality means welcoming visitors warmly, and generosity means giving freely to others. That reputation is part of what makes Sfakia a place worth a Chania day trip.

What does Stavros add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip adds Stavros, a name that belongs to both a village and a beach. Both lie in the Akrotiri district of Chania. The word therefore points to a settlement of people and to a stretch of shore.

The village of Stavros had a population of 543 at the 2021 count. That is a little over five hundred residents. Stavros belongs to the community of Kounoupidiana. A community is a local area that officials group under a single name. The village is one part of that area.

Michael Cacoyannis shot the famous beach dance scene for Zorba the Greek at Stavros in 1964. The film was shot in black and white on location on Crete. On location means the crew worked at real places instead of a studio. That film link gives a Chania day trip a story to tell.

Sirtaki was created specifically for the film, not as a traditional form of dance. Its music adapts a traditional syrtos composition from Chania by the Cretan musician Giorgis Koutsourelis. A syrtos is a traditional Greek dance, and a composition is a piece of music. The tune ties a Chania day trip to the film.

North Crete holds Akrotiri, a rocky promontory that lies in the Sea of Crete. A promontory is a piece of land reaching out into the sea. The Akrotiri municipal unit covers an area of 112.644 km2. A municipal unit is a district run by local government.

• Community size: Kounoupidiana had a population of 9,213 in 2021, well above the village of Stavros alone.
• Nearby places: Kounoupidiana lies close to Chania airport and the beaches of Kalathas and Stavros.
• Film sites: The film’s locations included the city of Chania, Kokkino Chorio village and Stavros Beach on Akrotiri.

Stavros adds a film story and a clear place name to a Chania day trip. Those facts help readers place the village and the beach on a map. A Chania day trip built on these facts treats Stavros as a named place with a past.

What does Gavdos add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip that adds Gavdos brings in an island that belongs administratively to Crete. Administratively means in terms of how a place is governed. Within Crete, Gavdos belongs to Chania regional unit, a government area much like a county.

The resident population of Gavdos was 142 in 2021. Residents are those who make their home on the island for the whole year. The summer headcount on Gavdos can climb to over 3,500. The island therefore holds far more people in summer than during the rest of the year.

Trypiti lies in the southeast of Gavdos. This rocky peninsula is land with water around nearly all of it. It also has a natural arch, an opening in the rock made by nature. A concrete sculpture of an oversized chair sits atop Trypiti. Russian visitors built it in the 1990s.

The capital of Gavdos is Kastri. Vatsiana is the southernmost populated village on the island, with 31 permanent residents. Populated means that people live there. Southernmost means farthest to the south. Both places give a Chania day trip to Gavdos a clear set of names to learn.

Gavdos has held a permanent population since Neolithic times and the Bronze Age. Neolithic means the New Stone Age, and the Bronze Age followed it. Ancient Greeks told a story of Ogygia, where Kalypso held Odysseus prisoner. Gavdos is named as a possible site of Ogygia, so a Chania day trip touches old myth.

• Cauda: Acts, a book of the Christian New Testament, mentions Gavdos briefly under the name Cauda.
• Exile: In the 1930s, Gavdos was a place of exile, or forced stay, for more than 250 communists.
• Gavdopoula: Gavdopoula is now a protected nature reserve, notably for migrating birds.

Mount Vardia is the highest point of Gavdos, at 345 metres. A metre is the standard unit for measuring height. For a Chania day trip, that single figure is the top of the scale for the whole island.

What does Kolymvari add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip that adds Kolymvari brings in a town on the island of Crete. Kolymvari used to be a municipality, a local government area, inside the Chania regional unit. Every official district of the island is called a regional unit.

Kolymvari has been a municipal unit inside Platanias municipality ever since the local government reform of 2011. An official change in how something is organised is called a reform. A smaller section of a municipality is what the term municipal unit means. Local labels like these help place a Chania day trip on the map.

The municipal unit also includes the barren Rodopou peninsula, which lies to the west. Barren means that very little can grow there. A peninsula is land that has sea on three of its sides. To the south, the municipal unit has villages, among them Afrata, Vasilopoulo, Spilia and Kares.

Kolymvari has only rocky beaches, meaning shores of rock rather than sand. The town is not as popular with tourists as the nearby resorts of Maleme and Platanias. A resort is a place built up for holiday visitors. Both points matter when weighing a Chania day trip to Kolymvari.

The historic Gonia Monastery stands one kilometre north of Kolymvari, on the southeast coast of that peninsula. A monastery is a community home for monks or nuns who live by a shared religious rule. A Chania day trip can treat the monastery as a historic stop in the Kolymvari area.

• River: A river called the Spiliakos flows into the sea at the town of Kolymvari.
• Council: Kolymvari hosted the Pan-Orthodox Council, a synod, which is a church meeting of Orthodox bishops.

The Kolymvari municipal unit has an area of 149.99 square kilometres. Land that forms a square with one kilometre on each side counts as a square kilometre. For a Chania day trip, that figure shows how much ground the whole municipal unit covers.

What does Theriso add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip adds Theriso, a village and former municipality in the Chania regional unit on Crete. A municipality is a local district that a council governs. A regional unit is a larger Greek administrative area, comparable to a county elsewhere.

The village of Theriso lies south of Chania, at the top of the Theriso gorge. A gorge is a narrow, deep valley whose sides are steep. Chania residents head to Theriso for its cooler temperatures. That local habit makes Theriso worth knowing for travellers who plan a Chania day trip.

The Theriso municipal unit climbs from the outer suburbs of Chania up the gorge into the White Mountains. A municipal unit is a section of local government. Outer suburbs are the housing areas at a city’s edge. Theriso has natural defences in the foothills of those mountains, the low hills at their base.

Theriso is a historic village and the birthplace of the mother of Eleftherios Venizelos. In February 1905, Venizelos held an assembly there with seventeen other Cretan leaders. An assembly is a formal meeting of people who plan together. That meeting gives a Chania day trip a link to the history of Crete.

For a Chania day trip, the village holds a story of a growing crowd. At first, 300 armed Cretans joined the assembly and hid in the Theriso gorge. Armed here means carrying weapons. Within twenty days, around 7,000 sympathisers had flocked to Theriso. Sympathisers are people who back the aims of a group.

• Area: The Theriso municipal unit covers an area of 74.106 square kilometres.
• Neighbours: The Theriso municipal unit is bordered by Mousouroi to the west and Keramia to the east.
• Government: From Theriso, Venizelos ran a provisional, or temporary, government that printed its own stamps and newspaper.

Chania residents also head to Theriso for the grill restaurants of the village. A grill restaurant cooks its food over direct heat. That makes food the last part of what Theriso adds to a Chania day trip.

What does Vryses add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip can add Vryses, a popular tourist destination that has kept its Cretan character. Cretan here means the local way of life on the island of Crete. The village is therefore a place for visitors that still keeps its own local style.

Vryses is a small place when counted by its people. It had 854 inhabitants at the 2021 census. Each census is a formal tally of all residents across a whole country. A Chania day trip with Vryses adds a village of modest size, not a large town or city.

A weather station is a site with instruments that record the air temperature. On New Year’s Day 2010, the Vryses weather station recorded 30.4 °C, Greece’s highest January reading. In February 2010, the Vryses weather station recorded 32.1 °C, Greece’s highest February temperature. A reading is one measured value.

Almyrida was traditionally a fishing village, meaning a small seaside settlement where people lived by catching fish. The village also has a long beach, which sits beside the sea. Anyone planning a Chania day trip can compare Almyrida with Vryses, because the two villages differ in character.

Gavalochori is a 1000-year-old village in north-western Crete. It lies in a valley, a low area between hills, about three kilometres inland from the coast. The village had a population of 612 in 2021. Any Chania day trip that names Gavalochori points to a village with a long history of its own.

• Churches: Gavalochori has twelve churches, which are places of Christian worship.
• Olive groves: Olive groves surround Gavalochori and form the farming base of the area.
• Heritage status: The Ministry of Culture designated the village of Gavalochori a historically preserved place.

Aptera, the closest major archaeological site to Gavalochori, lies 17 kilometres away from that village. Remains from the ancient past are studied at an archaeological site. Each of these places gives a Chania day trip a different local story.

What does the Aradena Gorge add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains a long layer of history from the Aradena Gorge. The word gorge names a narrow, deep valley closed in by steep cliffs. Aradin, also spelled Iradin, was a city of the ancient world. Its ruins survive at Passopetra, near the current village.

Aradin took part in the politics of ancient Crete. It was one of 30 Cretan cities that allied with Eumenes II in 183 BC. An alliance is a pact in which states agree to back one another. For a Chania day trip, this makes Aradena a place with a recorded political past.

Stergios Spanakis writes that Phoenicians, an ancient people, founded Aradin. He adds that its name comes from a Phoenician word for shelter. Vladimir Georgiev says the name comes from arados, meaning commotion, which refers to waves heard at the city. Two readings give a Chania day trip two stories about one name.

Nature adds its own record to the gorge. The snail Albinaria sphakiota is known from the Aradena Gorge, among other steep gorges in Sfakia. A snail is a soft-bodied animal that carries a coiled shell. For a Chania day trip, the gorge is a place of living nature as well as old stone.

Hierocles mentions Aradin, so the city still existed in Byzantine times, the eastern Roman age. The village church of Michael the Archangel replaced the middle aisle of an early Christian basilica. That basilica, a large church hall, was the seat of a bishop, a church leader. Such history gives a Chania day trip more depth.

• Trade: Aradena prospered through shipping and trade although it is a mountain village.
• 1821: Hatzi Georgis Maniatis and Anagnostis Manouselis were isolated in Aradaina and killed fighting.
• 1867: On 11 August 1867, Cretans and Turks fought a battle in the Aradaina gorge.

Cannon fire from Turkish ships at sea ended that battle with a Cretan retreat. Today, a platform for bungee jumping sits in the middle of the Aradena bridge. Bungee jumping means leaping while tied to an elastic cord.

What does Anopoli add to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip gains a deep layer of history from the village of Anopoli. Ancient Anopolis was a town and city-state of ancient Crete, the Greek island. Such a city-state governed its own affairs, much like a small country.

The father of Daskalogiannis, a wealthy shipowner, sent his son abroad to be educated. Records refer to Daskalogiannis as a town clerk in 1750. A town clerk is an official who keeps a town’s written records. In 1765 he served as chairman, or meeting leader, of the region of Sfakia.

Daskalogiannis owned four three-mast merchant ships. Merchant ships carried goods for trade between ports, and masts are the tall poles that hold the sails. A memorial statue of Daskalogiannis stands in his hometown, Anopolis. His story suits a Chania day trip that follows the history of Crete and its people.

A Russian agent told the Sfakian from Anopoli to lead a revolt against the Ottomans. An agent is a person who acts for a state. A Sfakian is a person from Sfakia, the mountain region of Crete. A revolt is an uprising against the people in power, such as the Ottomans in this story.

Sfakia was allocated, or given, to the emperor’s nephew, Marinos Skordilis. In 1217 a dispute over stolen horses between Skordilis and the Venetian Castellan started a revolt. A Castellan was the officer in charge of a castle. That earlier revolt adds a second story to a Chania day trip.

• Old name: Stephanus of Byzantium claimed that Anopolis was an earlier name of Araden.
• Golden Hair: Chrysi Skordilis was nicknamed Chrysomallousa, meaning Golden Hair, for her blond hair.

The ancient site of Anopolis lies near the modern village of Anopoli. The two names are almost the same, so they are easy to mix up. Anyone planning a Chania day trip can keep the old city and the present village apart.

What does the Gonia Monastery bring to a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip can add the Gonia Monastery, a Greek Orthodox fortress monastery in Venetian style. A monastery is a religious home where monks or nuns live, work and pray. Venetian means in the style of Venice, a city in Italy.

The Gonia Monastery stands just 1 kilometre north of Kolymvari and overlooks the Gulf of Chania. A gulf is a large bay, a spot where water cuts far into the coast. Two clear map points on a Chania day trip are Kolymvari and the gulf.

The Gonia Monastery began in the 9th century and first honoured Saint George. Its first site was Menies, built over ruins of an ancient temple to Artemis Britomartis. An ancient temple is a place of worship from the far past. Builders raised the monastery in the 13th century, next to a cemetery.

The monastery was rebuilt between 1618 and 1634 on its present site, where it stands today. The fountain at the entrance dates to 1708. The belfry, which is a bell tower, dates to 1849. Those dates tell travellers on a Chania day trip that the site kept changing over the centuries.

Ottoman bombardment heavily damaged the monastery in 1645, 1652, 1822, 1841 and 1867. Bombardment means an attack with heavy guns called cannons. A cannonball from that last attack still sits lodged in the seaside monastery wall. That history is part of the site’s story for a Chania day trip.

• Other name: The place is also known as the Monastery of Panagia Hodegetria, a second name for the same site.
• Feast day: Its feast day, 15 August, honours the Dormition, meaning the Virgin Mary’s falling asleep.
• Museum: The monastery museum holds Cretan icons, painted holy images, by Parthenios, Andreas Ritzos and Neilos.

The Gonia Monastery brings faith, art and war history together in one place. That gives anyone planning a Chania day trip a clear story to follow from start to finish. Each part of that story has its own date, name or object to remember.

Which questions matter for a Chania day trip?

A Chania day trip has an airport with upgraded aircraft layouts. The Chania regional unit was created in 2011, out of the former prefecture. Rain counts differ from month to month, and the Libyan Sea lies along the Sfakia coast.

Which airport handles a Chania day trip?

The airport finished new aircraft layouts in June 2018. They use push back, moving planes backward, to double the parking space. Its sewage network, about 3.5 km long, joined the municipal network. Renovated toilets raised their number in the non-Schengen area, for arrivals from outside Europe’s open-border zone.

What time of year fits a Chania day trip?

At the Chania Airport (Souda) station, April has 7.8 rainy days. The same station counts 0.2 rainy days in July. At the Chania Airport (Souda) station, October has 9.8 rainy days. Here, a rainy day means a day with at least 0.1 mm of rain.

Which regional unit covers a Chania day trip?

The Chania regional unit, a local-government area, was created in 2011. It came out of the former prefecture, under the Kallikratis reform. That prefecture was created while Crete was still an autonomous, self-governing state. Its territory matched that of the present regional unit.

Which sea lies south of a Chania day trip?

Hora Sfakion lies by the Libyan Sea, the body of water on the south side. Off the Sfakia coast, people sometimes see dolphins, and even whales, in the Libyan Sea. The Libyan Sea along that coast holds a diminishing fish population, meaning one that is shrinking.