Images from Chania’s Old Town in Crete, Greece

The Beauty of Chania’s Old Town

Since 3000 B.C., Chania has been a thriving city on the northern coast of Crete.  The photos that follow are from a three-hour stroll through the back streets of the old town.  The streets were delightfully devoid of tourists and fun to get lost in.

Love the colors everywhere in Chania’s Old Town

A nice setting for eating.

A door with photos of ancient Greece.

Ancient fortification walls with millstones.

Three thousand-year-old ruins beside modern buildings.

Cats are everywhere in Chania. Fortunately, so are food bowls, unlike in Santorini.

Flowers in the street for “Helene and Kostas” name day. Greeks don’t celebrate birthdays, but only the day you are named for.

Beautiful old door with olive trees

Jasmine growing out of blue pot. The whole alley smelled delicious.

Old walls can be abstractly beautiful.

Deserted block in the old town of Chania.

Bougainvillea is in full bloom.

The beauty of decay.

Broken plaster from hundreds of years.

Abandoned building with clothes still drying outside the door.

The restored beside the old and decaying in Chania’s Old Town.

A mix of architecture in Old Town.

Greek men and tourists hang out in the parks and cafes all day.

Ancient door on a nearly ruined building.

A doorway with ventilation windows above, now in ruins.

These buildings are falling towards each other. Metal bars prevent a collapse for now.

So many layers of plaster.  How many lives?  Who were the people that applied each layer?

White Bougainvillea

Back alley in old town.

How many have walked under this arch?

An ancient arch, newly plastered, with a plant taking hold.

Fresh sheets hanging to dry.

Roses are in full bloom now. These smelled incredible!

Chania’s harbor with its 12th-Century Venetian-built shipyard in the forefront and the White Mountains in back.  The buildings were built between 1461 and 1599 for shipbuilding and repair for the Eastern Mediterranean Venetian Fleet. Originally there were seventeen of these massive structures but due to the German’s bombing in 1941, there are now only seven.

Another view of Chania’s Venetian harbor. Still some snow on the mountains in late May.

Ancient chain on the walkway to the Venetian lighthouse

Venetian Stairs leading down to the port from the old town of Chania. The stair-steps are wide and made especially so donkeys could put all four feet on each step before taking another step.

Graffiti in Chania

Cats don’t care about archeology. Taking a poop on 5000-year-old ruins.  He did some digging too.

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