Our second stop in Greece was the Island of Crete fabled for King Minos and the monster the Minotaur. We began our tour with a stop at a graveyard for British Commonwealth soldiers killed in defense of Crete from the Germans in World War II.
After that we moved on to a small village called Akatori in the hills above the port. From this vantage we could see the snow covered White Mountains of Crete and look down on the city of Chania (pronounced kHania) and the Cretean coastline. We also visited and ancient Greek Orthodox church and the burial site of Eleftherios Venizelos, the first Prime Minister of Crete after it was granted independence from the Ottoman Empire.
Next we went into the old city of Chania. We entered through the Agora which would normally refer to the civic center of the town/city but in this case refers only to the market. From the Agora we wandered into the narrow streets and alley ways to the ‘leather market’ and to the only remaining mosque in the town (which according to our guide was built by a ‘whirling dervish’ sect).
Also, in this area which had been the muslim center of town during the Ottoman occupation, we found a Greek Orthodox cathedral. Our guide speculated that the Greek Orthodox parishioners were able to build such an ostentatious christian church because it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary who is also revered in Islam. We also taken to the site of the only Jewish Synagogue in the old city (Etz Hayyim Synagogue built in the 15th Century). It was hidden from view behind a wall and the gate, curiously, had a quote from the Apostle Mark carved on its lintel.
We ended our tour at the waterfront of Chania …
