Fun Things to Do in Crete

A Greek island vacation usually means enjoying small island life, hanging out on the beach, taking a walk through a village, and perhaps renting a scooter for a day.  But Crete is a bit different from the small islands of the Cyclades.  Crete is big!  Crete is Greece’s largest island and is almost the size of Hawaii’s Big Island, taking about five hours to drive across east to west and an hour and a half north to south.  Its large size also means there are a lot of fun things to do in Crete. 

We loved the diverse mix of things to do on the island of Crete.  It’s an island, so of course there are beaches, but there are also nature, history, and wine.  What we found to be unique from any other island we’ve visited is that we could be driving along a road with sea views on one side and snow-capped mountains on the other.

We spent three nights on the island of Crete, which was not nearly enough to explore the entire island, but it did allow us enough time to acquaint ourselves with the beauty and history of the western half of Crete.  If you’re traveling to Greece and only have a few days to spend in Crete, be sure to include these attractions in your driving holiday.

Palace of Knossos

Visiting the Palace of Knossos is one of the most popular things to do in Crete.  Crete’s history goes back even farther than that of the ancient Greeks of Athens.  Crete was the home of Europe’s earliest civilization, the Minoans.  The Minoan civilization was named by Arthur Evans, the archaeologist who excavated the Palace of Knossos.  The Minoans inhabited Crete approximately 2600-1150 B.C.  Evans named the Minoans after the king Minos.

The Palace of Knossos is the largest palace in Crete and is located just outside of Crete’s largest city, Heraklion.  The area was first settled during the Neolithic period and the first palace was built around 1900 B.C.  It was destroyed and a new palace was built in its place around 1700 B.C.  The palace isn’t one large building, but rather a grouping of multiple buildings surrounding a central court.  The palace continued to be in use after 1450 B.C. when the other palaces of Crete were destroyed.

The Palace of Knossos is a very controversial archaeological site.  Excavations began in 1878, but systematic excavations were run by Arthur Evans starting in 1900.  The palace needed conservation as the materials unearthed were very susceptible to weathering.  At first Evans and his team worked on protecting the ruins, but after 1925 he decided to attempt to interpret the functions of the spaces and restore the palace to what he believed it once was. 

Large amounts of concrete were used, entire buildings were reconstructed, wooden beams and Minoan columns were made, reinforced with concrete and painted, wall paintings were restored, and copies of paintings were created and installed.  On one hand, intervention was necessary for the protection of the site, but on the other hand the reconstructions are irreversible and are not all supported by archaeological evidence.

Heraklion Archaeological Museum

After visiting the Palace of Knossos, head into the town of Heraklion for a visit to the archaeological museum.  The Heraklion Archaeological Museum holds antiquities found during the excavation of the Palace of Knossos along with items from other parts of ancient Crete.

Like some of the decorations of the palace, the wall of dolphins, for instance, some of the antiquities displayed in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum have marine themes.  There were many different sizes of vessels made of clay which were decorated in the naturalist marine style, adorned with an octopus whose tentacles wrapped around every curve.

One of the most important pieces in the museum gets its own room.  A lekythos, or piece of Greek pottery used for storing olive oil, from the 5th century B.C. depicts Theseus slaying the Minotaur. 

The story of the Minotaur goes that king Minos asked Poseidon for a white bull to show his support, as Minos was fighting with his brothers over ruling Crete.  Minos was supposed to sacrifice the bull to show honor to Poseidon, but decided the bull was too magnificent to kill.  As punishment, Poseidon caused Minos’ wife to fall in love with the bull.  She commissioned a hollow wooden cow be made so she could climb inside and mate with the Cretan bull.  This union brought forth the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull that ate humans.  Minos was advised by the oracle at Delphi to construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur near Knossos.

Later Minos’ son Androgeos was killed by the Athenians.  To pay for this, Minos ordered that Athenian youths be fed to the Minotaur.  Theseus, the son of Aegeus, volunteered to kill the Minotaur.  He told his father if he was successful, he would raise the white sail of his ship on his return home and, if not, the crew would raise the black sails.  Theseus was successful, but forgot to raise the white sail on his return voyage.  When King Aegeus saw the black sails, he assumed his son was dead and killed himself by jumping into the sea, which is why the sea is called the Aegean Sea.

Holy Monastery of Arkadi

Greece is a very religious country and churches and monasteries can be seen all over the country, even in some of the most out-of-the-way places.  The Holy Monastery of Arkadi is one of the most important monasteries, not only on the island of Crete, but in all of Greece.

The monastery was founded in the 13th century by a monk named Arkadios.  The Holy Monastery of Arkadi made its mark in Crete history in 1866 during the Cretan Revolution against the Turkish domination.  The monastery is the site of the “Arkadi Tragedy” on November 9, 1866, also sometimes called a holocaust.

During the Ottoman occupation the monastery turned its wine cellar into a storeroom for ammunition.  Cretan revolutionaries, including their families, lived in the monastery.  On November 9, 1866, the monastery was besieged by Turkish fighters.  The resistance fighters fought, but were unable to prevent the takeover.  Rather than being taken as prisoners, some of the survivors of the battles locked themselves in the powder magazine where the women and children were hiding, set fire to their own ammunition, and blew themselves up.  This act made an impact and became a symbol of the fight for liberation.

Reminders of this battle still survive.  The bullet tree, a burnt cross-shaped cypress, has a bullet embedded in its dead bark.  The refectory, which now houses the museum, was where 36 men were slaughtered by the Turks.  The powder magazine where the Arkadi Tragedy occurred also remains.

The monastery is still a working monastery of the Greek Orthodox Church.  The church, dedicated to “The Transfiguration of Our Saviour,” is open to visitors.  The monks’ cells are still used by the monks for prayer and meditation.

Samaria Gorge

One of the natural highlights of a trip to Crete Island is hiking the Samaria Gorge.  Samaria Gorge is one of the longest gorges in Europe and is located in Crete’s only national park.  Hiking Samaria Gorge is a full-day adventure as the hike is 16 kilometers starting high in the mountains and ending in the town of Agia Roumelia along the Libyan Sea.  Note that the hike is only accessible May through October.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About Hiking Samaria Gorge

Chania

Our favorite town on the island of Crete was Chania.  We made Chania our home base and stayed at the beautiful Porto Veneziano Hotel in a room with a view of the stunning Venetian harbor.  There are numerous things to do and see in Chania, including the maritime museum, multiple churches, and an old market.  It’s also a beautiful town to just wander through.

Related: Chania: A Harbor Town on Greece’s Island of Crete

Crete Olive Oil and Wine Tasting

The news is full of stories about Greece’s economic crisis.  One story which grabbed my attention was a segment on NPR’s Planet Money.  Greece produces some of the best olive oil in the world and the country is covered with olive trees, but I’d be willing to bet you thought, like me, that the honor of best olive oil went to Italy.  It turns out that 60 percent of Greece’s olive oil is shipped to Italy, where it is packed in Italian bottles with Italian labels and shipped around the world to be sold as an Italian product.  Greece isn’t packaging and selling its own oil because no one in Greece makes bottles and, because of the economic crisis, it is difficult to get loans to pay for bottles made in Italy.

You may also not know that Greece produces some very fine wines, some of which are made with grapes that are indigenous to Greece and aren’t commonly found in other parts of the world.  Thankfully, the export of Greek wine is on the rise.

Crete has both of these Greek culinary products and visitors to the island of Crete can taste and learn more about their production at Anoskeli.  Anoskeli has been making olive oil for 20 years and recently dived into making Greek wine as well.

Travelers on holiday in Crete can add a visit to Anoskeli to their itinerary and take a tour of both the olive oil and wine production sides of the business before visiting the tasting room for tastes of the olive oil and wine. 

Olive oil is produced from November to May when 10 tons of olives are crushed and turned into olive oil.  Anoskeli makes three categories of olive oil: virgin, extra virgin, and organic.  The olive oil spends four months in Anoskeli’s huge stainless steel tanks before being filtered and bottled.  Anoskeli’s olive oil has won awards in Italy and the US and is exported to Russia and the US.  In the United States Anoskeli’s olive oil is sold under the Blue Olive Oil brand.

Anoskeli produces 20,000 bottles of wine a year made with organic grapes grown in and around the village of Anoskeli.  The varietals they grow are Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Grenache Rouge, Assyrtiko, Vidiano, and Vilana.  In addition to wine, Anoskeli also makes raki, the most popular alcoholic beverage in Crete.

Related: Wine of the Gods: Discovering Greek Wine in Crete

Crete Beaches

When you’re on one of the Greek islands, you have to go to the beach.  There are a number of Crete beaches to choose from.  Some of the highly recommended beaches on the western side of the island are Balos Beach, reachable by a dirt road, Falassarna Beach, and Elafonisi Beach. 

As we didn’t have much time for beach going, we visited a beach a little closer to home which had been recommended by our hotel.  Marathi Beach is on the same little peninsula as Chania and the Chania airport, about a 25-minute drive from the old town of Chania.  Marathi Beach has the impossibly clear blue waters Greece is known for, and we shared the beach with only a few others.  Even with our short visit, we were successful in our snorkeling endeavors not far from the shore.  While we relaxed on one of the beach’s lounge chairs we snacked on a gyro and gazed at the snow-capped mountains across the bay.

Crete Car Rental

If you’re going to enjoy a driving holiday on the island of Crete you’ll need a rental car.  With a little research I found a Crete car rental company, AutoClub Car Rental.  AutoClub Car Rental rents cars out of both the Chania and Heraklion airports and will also deliver and collect their cars all over the island, whether that is at an airport, port, hotel, or villa.  Prices start as low as 20 euros a day.  Included in that price are taxes, unlimited kilometers, full comprehensive insurance with an excess of 300-450 euros, roadside assistance, vehicle replacement, second driver, and more. 

One of AutoClub Car Rental’s staff members met us in the airport after we collected our luggage, sat with us in the airport to go over all the paperwork, walked us out to our car, and then went over the map of Crete with us, not only to show us how to get to our hotel, but also to provide insider advice on things to do in Crete and places to eat in Chania.  You just need to return the car with the same amount of fuel as it had when you received it, and while we did a walk around on the car, we were told they’re not quite as strict about small dings on rental cars in Greece as they are in the United States.  Not that I suggest running into a tree or anything, but it’s nice to not have to worry about someone else giving you a door ding.

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Thank you to Anoskeli for providing us with a tour and tasting and Porto Veneziano Hotel and AutoClub Car Rental for hosting our time in Crete and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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Chania: A Harbor Town on Greece’s Island of Crete

Crete is Greece’s largest island and, therefore, has a number of cities and towns from which to choose.  Our trip to Crete was actually a last minute add-on to our off-road trip through Central Greece with Tripology Adventures.  A friend of ours told us his favorite Greek islands were Santorini and Crete, and he won me over with his description of the beautiful town of Chania, a quaint old fishing village with a gorgeous Venetian harbor.  Chania not only makes a great home base from which to explore Crete, there are also a number of things to do in Chania itself.  The Venetian quarter of Chania is chockfull of tourist attractions along with a mixture of Venetian and Turkish architecture.

Places to Visit in Chania on an Old Town Walk

Venetian Harbor and Lighthouse

Every town has a trademark uniquely its own, and Chania’s is its Venetian lighthouse.  The harbor was built by the Venetians in the 1300s.  While the harbor was originally built for commerce and pirate control, it is now used for mooring fishing boats.  The lighthouse was built at the entrance by the Venetians but was restored by the Egyptians in the early 1800s.  The lighthouse provides a fantastic foreground for Chania sunsets.

Exhibition of Ancient Naval Architecture (Shipyard MORO)

The Exhibition of Ancient Naval Architecture (Shipyard MORO) is part of the Maritime Museum of Crete and is housed in one of the converted Venetian shipyards.  The most important object on display here is the Minoa, a replica of a Minoan period ship from the 15th century B.C. which was built to sail from Crete to Athens for the 2004 Olympics.  The project was part of the Experimental Naval Archeological program and the ship was painstakingly built using tools and materials of the period.

Church of Agios Nikolaos

The Church of Agios Nikolaos is an example of a Venetian Catholic church that was originally built with a bell tower but later had a minaret added during Turkish rule when the church was turned into a mosque.  The inside of the church is dominated by a huge bronze chandelier.

Agora

The Agora is Chania’s marketplace for fresh seafood, produce, and cheese, but there are also stalls selling souvenirs and tchotchkes.  Since the area surrounding this cross-shaped elevated building is filled with shops and outdoor stalls, it would be easy to miss if you didn’t know what you were looking for.  We had to laugh when the gentleman who helped us with our rental car told us about the market and said, “It’s over 100 years old.  That’s old for you guys, right?”  While Chania’s agora isn’t one of the oldest in Greece by far, for us Americans a market continuously running for over 100 years is quite a sight.  In 1980 the market was declared a protected monument by the Ministry of Culture.

While we love visiting markets, I sometimes feel uncomfortable strolling through, snapping pictures and not buying anything.  After all, what in the world are we going to do with a whole fish?  As we shyly admired the seafood on display, a gentleman who owned one of the seafood stalls came out to us and basically said, I know you’re tourists and not here to buy anything, but please come in with me and see what we have.  He showed us all the different types of fish he had for sale, explained what they were, and even showed us what he had in the back and in the refrigerator.  Even though he knew he wasn’t going to make a penny from us, he was proud to show us what he had and we were happy to admire.

The definition for the Greek word agora is a public open space used for assemblies and markets.  Now Chania’s agora has spread past the building into the streets surrounding, which are filled with shops and stalls where you can fill your need to shop.

Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Chania

The Greek Orthodox Cathedral, also called the Church of Trimartiri, is located on the Plateia Mitropoleos.  This church was built in the mid-1800s on the site of a Venetian church which was converted by the Ottoman Turks into a soap factory.  An icon of the Virgin Mary was saved in the soap factory.  When the factory went out of business, the owner gave the land to the city again and a church was rebuilt.  The church is now filled with icons, including that original one of the Virgin Mary.  The church has three aisle, which is why it is also known as Trimartiri.

Mosque of Kioutsouk Hassan or Giali Tzamisi

The Mosque of Kioutsouk Hassan or Giali Tzamisi is the oldest Muslim building in Crete.  Venetian rule ended in Chania when the Ottoman Turks invaded.  Catholic churches were converted into mosques and new mosques were constructed.  Giali Tzamisi means the mosque of the seaside, as it was built right along the water.  Part of the mosque was destroyed by the Nazis during World War II and the building now serves as an exhibition hall.

Maritime Museum of Crete

The other part of the Maritime Museum of Crete is at the entrance of the port of Chania in the FIRKAS Fortress.  The fortress was built by the Venetians as both a guard and a prison.  As with everything else, it was later taken over by the Turks.  The museum walks visitors through the various periods of Crete’s history including the prehistoric, classical, and Byzantine periods and the Balkan Wars.  The fortress is where the Greek flag was raised in 1913 after the Balkan Wars when Crete celebrated their independence from Turkey and union with Greece.

Streets of Chania

One of my least favorite cliché travel sayings is “get lost in the back streets of . . .,” so I’m not going to tell you to get lost in the back streets of Chania.  However, the zig-zagging labyrinth of cobblestone streets winding through Venetian and Turkish architecture are a big part of Chania’s charm and definitely worth taking the time to explore.  The Venetian quarter is a small, manageable area, and there are plenty of street signs, so it’s pretty easy to find yourself if you do get a little lost.

Places to Eat in Chania

Chrisostomos

Our absolute favorite restaurant in Chania was Chrisostomos, just a short walk from our hotel.  Both our hotel and the gentleman from our Chania car rental company suggested this restaurant and their suggestions were spot on. 

Chrisostomos serves traditional Cretan food, but they put a modern spin on their food.  You can get the traditional Greek foods like saganaki and Greek salad and moussaka, but the items we had mixed traditional local ingredients with flavors that would fit in at any fine dining restaurant around the world.

We started with the Chrisostomos salad, a welcome deviation from the daily Greek salad.  This flavorful salad is made with stamnagathi, a leafy green similar to chicory that mainly grows on the island of Crete, lettuce, green onion, dill, dry anthotyros cheese, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, Cretan dakos, and sweet and sour dressing.  We also had anchovies baked in a wood oven with tomato, green pepper, and onion in an olive oil and white wine sauce, with a side of more stamnagathi.

My entrée of choice was a special for the evening call giouvetsi.  Giouvetsi is a classic Greek baked dish, this one made with chicken and kritharaki (a Greek rice-shaped pasta) baked in tomato sauce and served with gruyere cheese on top.

What made this meal even more fabulous was the price.  Our two appetizers, two entrees, and bottle of wine cost us about 50 euros, and then our meal was not only completed with the standard complimentary bottle of raki, but also a plate of sticky sweet loukoumades. 

Ta Neoria

Like many places in the world, you can either have good food or you can have a good view.  However, it is possible to find a good restaurant along Chania’s harbor and have both.  Ta Neoria was recommended as a restaurant with a view that also serves good food by both our hotel and the restaurant at which we dined in the Splantzia neighborhood.  While the restaurants along the harbor are touristy, Ta Neoria seemed to be a restaurant that was also frequented by the locals in addition to the tourists.  Ta Neoria was also conveniently located just a few doors down from our hotel.

We started with a Cretan salad, similar to Greek salad as it has tomato, cucumber, green pepper, olives, and onion, but a little different with the addition of Cretan rusk (kind of like croutons), cooked potato, and crumbled mizithra cheese instead of the chunk of feta.  Since it was our last night on the island of Crete, we enjoyed some seafood, including octopus and squid.  As is custom, our meal was completed with a bottle of raki and a selection of desserts.

Splantzia Neighborhood

We were told that the Splantzia neighborhood, especially along Kallinikou Sarpaki, was where the locals go to dine, and when we walked through the web of cobblestone streets in the area it certainly appeared to be true.  We grabbed an outdoor table at one of the many restaurants along the street as there wasn’t one restaurant that was recommended over any other.  Be aware that restaurants in this area don’t serve seafood, which I found very surprising for a seaside town on an island.  Apparently if you want seafood, you stay along the harbor.  I think one of the reasons may be that the Greek waters are overfished, so seafood is actually quite expensive in Greece, even on the islands, and the restaurants in this area were selling good but inexpensive food.

Agora

We didn’t visit the Agora until our last day right before heading to the airport, so sadly didn’t realize it also had some tiny restaurants at which to dine.  Set amongst fresh seafood and produce, this is where I would like to eat in Chania next time.  The restaurants in the Chania Market include Pissas Restaurant, a seafood restaurant open 9:00-17:00, Stavros & Stamatis, a taverna serving traditional Cretan dishes starting at 4:00 in the morning, and Agapinis Restaurant, another traditional tavern open daily 4:00-16:00 and Sunday 4:00-9:00.

Places to Stay in Chania

There are a number of Chania hotels, but during our research one of the hotels that appealed to us the most was Porto Veneziano Hotel.  Coincidentally, it turned out to be the same hotel our friend who had suggested Crete had stayed at with his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary, though he hadn’t been able to remember the name.  Porto Veneziano Hotel is ideally located right on the Venetian harbor with a view of the lighthouse across the way.  Get a room with a balcony over the harbor and you will be presented with a stunning sunset every evening.

Porto Veneziano Hotel’s rooms were recently renovated and are decorated in a way which matches its waterside location.  Rooms are simply adorned with white, navy blue, and light wood.  The rooms are on the small side, but never feel cramped.  Ours was a double sea view room, but there are some suites as well if you feel like you need more space.  

The bathrooms are also small, but space is utilized wisely so there is still room for an amply sized walk-in shower and there’s not only counter space beside the sink, there’s also a shelf below the sink so you can have all your toiletries in the bathroom.  The hotel also provides real hairdryers in the bathrooms, which is a pretty exciting amenity considering most hotels in Greece have hairdryers on the wall that look like a vacuum hose and work about as well.

Some other highly appreciated amenities in the rooms are full-length mirrors in the closet, a plethora of outlets for charging phones, camera batteries, etc., and Wi-Fi that works at all times anywhere in the room.  These might sound like standard amenities, but we stayed in some very nice hotels in Central Greece where we had to take turns with the outlets and walk down the hallway in pajamas to find a Wi-Fi signal.

Porto Veneziano Hotel has a restaurant, bar, and breakfast room.  A pretty fantastic breakfast of a multitude of Greek pastries, yogurt, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice is offered every morning until noon.  If you don’t feel like going downstairs for breakfast, the hotel staff will even serve breakfast in your room for free.  One morning we were picked up for our Samaria Gorge hike before breakfast started, so instead the hotel packed us lunches to take with us on our hike, again for free.  If you feel like exploring Chania on two wheels, the hotel provides bicycles for guests to borrow.

I also have to mention the friendliness of the staff.  Before we even arrived, the hotel sent me a detailed email of things to do in Chania and the rest of Crete and places to eat in Chania.  During our stay everyone always had a smile at the ready.  When I asked about the best way to hike Samaria Gorge, they immediately offered to book us on an inexpensive tour, which meant no stress for us, and they took the time to explain everything we needed to know about the tour and our other options so we could make an educated choice.  They provided us with the packed lunch mentioned above, a service I had no idea the hotel offered.  When we were heading out for a drive to the beach, we were offered large beach towels to take with us.  When we walked into the hotel we were always greeted with a smile and a hello, and whenever we walked out we were also acknowledged and told to have a great day or a nice evening.  While I realize the front desk staff may have known we would be writing about the hotel, I witnessed this top level of customer service being given to other guests constantly as well.  There are certain hotels you visit in your lifetime which you look back upon fondly and wish you could visit over and over again.  Porto Veneziano Hotel is one of those hotels.

Chania Car Rental

You won’t need a rental car for Chania’s places of interest, but if you plan on getting out of town to visit some of the other sights of the island of Crete, you will need transportation.  We rented a car from AutoClub Car Rental, a Crete car rental company which rents cars out of the Chania airport but will also deliver your rental car anywhere on the island.  Porto Veneziano Hotel has a small private parking lot for guests to park free of charge.  If you can’t get one of those choice parking spots, there are public parking lots and street parking throughout town, including near Porto Veneziano Hotel.

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Thank you to Porto Veneziano Hotel and AutoClub Car Rental for hosting our time in Crete and making this post possible.  As always, all opinions are my own.

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