Church of the Assumption, Chania, Crete

The Church of the Assumption is the Roman Catholic church right across the street from the Greek Orthodox church in Chania. A row of buildings sits in front of the Catholic church, making it a little hard to find. But not too hard since a small sign that says "Ecclesia Katholika" points down the alleyway.

Alleyway to Catholic church

Church of the Assumption, Chania

The church was built in the 19th century and the small complex served as the first girls' school in Chania. The courtyard is still open and has a nice statue of St. Francis (whose nearby Venetian church has been turned into the Archaeological Museum).

St. Francis in the garden

J admires the crazy plants

Wall-mounted sun dial!

The interior of the church is small, white, and bright. Since it served a girls' school, it was probably designed for the students to use rather than the local Catholic population.

Nave and sanctuary

One of the cool things to see was a banner for the Year of Faith, which is being celebrated world-wide by Catholics. I've enjoyed spotting the same logo surrounded by different languages as we have wandered around Europe.

Year of Faith in Greek!

They have a nice painting of St. Joseph and a lovely Pieta statue along with other typical decorations.

St. Joseph

Pieta

More saints!

The votive candles are definitely Greek style--long stick-like candles pushed into sand or, in this case, sand and water.

Votive candles

Church of the Three Martyrs, Chania, Crete

The Greek Orthodox cathedral of Chania is the Trimartyre, or Three Martyrs Church. It was built in the 19th century by a Turk, who wanted to give thanks to the Blessed Virgin Mary for a miracle that saved the life of his son.

Church of the Three Martyrs, Chania

The courtyard outside the church has a few statues dedicated to Cretan heroes. Anaghnostis Mantakas was a 19th century freedom fighter on Crete. Ecumenical Patriarch Athinagoras I was patriarch of Constantinople from 1948 to 1972.

J admires Mantakes statue

Ecumenical Patriarch Athinagoras I

The doorway has a beautiful icon, the presentation of the child Mary at the temple.

Doorway Icon

The interior is quite breath-taking. Orthodox churches are traditionally quite ornate. Everywhere the eye looks, it is drawn to holy things.

Nave of the church

The pulpit

Several icons are found throughout the church. Some of the icons have small metal panels, often with body parts depicted on them. They are requests to the saints for help with illnesses or injuries.

Icon

Icon with panels

It is a beautiful building and well worth visiting.

Panagia Arkoudiotissa, Crete

Down a path from the Gouverneto Monastery is a handful of other monasteries. At the very end of the path is the Katholiko Monastery, which is the ruins of a nearly sea-side monastery that was overrun by pirates in the 17th century. The monks moved up into the hills to these other monasteries. We never made it as far as Katholiko but we did find some other interesting things on the way.

The path wasn't too steep and was well built with stones, winding around the hillside providing wonderful views of the mountainous terrain.

L and Mommy on their way

J on a less clear part of the path

Mediterranean in the distance!

Seeing a little structure!

If we had taken a different path, we'd have come to the ruins of the Saint Anthony Monastery. It was visible across the valley and looked like a cozy spot. Here's a closer look, thanks to our camera's zoom.

St. Anthony Monastery

Nearby sheep/goat pens?

Our guide book said the walk to the end of the trail would take half an hour. We weren't brave enough to go all the way. Walking down the hill might have been okay for the kids, but coming back up would be a lot tougher and they are getting a little too big to be carried all that way. At one point, the children and Mommy started back. I was to walk another five or ten minutes to see if I could make it. About two minutes further down, I came across a cave church which I thought was the bottom of the hill. Consulting a map later, it's clear I didn't make it all the way to Katholiko Monastery.

What I did find was a cave church called Panagia Arkoudiotissa. A bit of construction outside the cave hinted at the small community that must have lived there a long time ago.

Some walls from the old monastery

The other side of the walls

A larger room for gatherings or meals?

A path led clearly to the cave, which still has a small chapel that looks to be in use.

Path to the cave

Entrance to the cave

No one was at home, though they must have been here recently

A bell for the chapel

The chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. A feast is held on February 2 each year, with locals spending the night in the cave.

The cave stretches back quite a bit. Natural light fills the first large chamber, which includes many rock formations. The great stalagmite in the center of the cave is, according to legend, Artemis transformed into a bear. So perhaps there was sacred use of the cave even in pagan antiquity! Another legend says that a bear lived in the cave and the local monks, being very thirsty, prayed to the Virgin Mary for a solution. The bear was turned to stone and they could use the dripping waters and pools in the cave.

The bear/goddess leans on some human-hewn rocks

The big stalagmite

Another formation

The cave went deeper than I wanted to go without a flashlight

I soon was headed back up the path, though I didn't catch up to the family till they were already at the top relaxing with a bottle of water. We were soon back in our car driving down the curvy, mostly paved roads to our hotel.

Chania Playground, Crete

Outside the old town area of Chania is the Public Gardens. The guide books all said this was a great area for children and we soon discovered why.

Massive tree, good for climbing!

As we walked into the gardens, we discovered some large cages with goats inside. Other children were feeding them leaves. J and L soon joined in. We had bought a sesame seed bread ring at the Agora and gave them some little bits off that.

J feeds a goat

L poses with a goat

Goat has a state-sponsored snack

Further on were two pens for peacocks. We still had some of the bread ring and gave them a taste too. Mostly the cages had peahens (the females who are less showy) and only one peacock (who was very showy and had the longest tail I'd ever seen on a peacock).

Peacock who is mostly tail

Just beyond this area was the playground, which was the star attraction of the day for the children. They swung, slid, merry-go-rounded, and had a fabulous time all around.

L was happy that she was lighter than J!

Too many slides to choose from

Not sure who designed those rungs, climbing inside is a challenge

Fun on swings

We couldn't stay long enough to satisfy the children! But eventually we had to go get lunch back at the Agora, and then head off to our new hotel to check in and check out the swimming pool!

Chania Old Town, Crete

Chania is the most populous town in western Crete. It's been home to a significant population since neolithic times. When Knossos was destroyed in the Bronze Age, Chania became the main city on the island. The city started to decline under Arab occupation, but then rebounded when the Venetians took over in 1290. It became so prosperous that they called it "the Venice of the East." The Turks occupied the land from 1646 to 1898. With Cretan independence, Chania became the capital of Crete and remained so until 1971. The result of this historical mishmash is a city full of many influences. We had fun exploring the city one morning. We parked just outside the old city walls and soon found a fountain to J's liking.

Fountain in Chania

The old Venetian Wall

The star attraction of Chania is the harbor area, featuring Arab and Venetian influences. The harbor was fortified by the Venetians. Part of the fortification is a lighthouse by the harbor mouth.
 

The harbor has since been rebuilt with modern buildings

Harbor entrance with the lighthouse

The harbor has the remains of the Mosque of Janissaries, which looked like it was being rebuilt. It was built in 1645 when the Turks took over. This mosque's minaret was destroyed during the World War II bombing. Later, on one of the side streets we found a different minaret that L assumed was Rapunzel's tower.

Mosque of the Janissaries

Mid-town Minaret

Near the mosque is another building that was bombed out by the Germans during World War II. Why they haven't repaired it wasn't clear from the sign. The building was built into the original Venetian wall surrounding the harbor area.

World War II damage

A maze of streets fans out from the central harbor with plenty of cafes, bars, shops, and history to satisfy any wandering curious person. We stopped in one place that specialized in baked goods. We had three varieties of cookies: chocolate, rosemary, and nut. We also had a fabulous pastry with pralines which was the parents' favorite. After we were done eating, the proprietors offered us some small tastes of fresh baklava. Both the generosity and the baklava were outstanding.

Picking a seat on the street

Yummiest snack ever?

Yikes, an American TV bar!

Colorful side street

Nice buildings with some old brown walls showing through

Buildings with a lot of character

Another popular spot in town is the Agora, which is the covered market in the middle of town. The market has little restaurants, fish merchants, butchers, bakers, fruit sellers, and even some touristy knickknack shops. We had lunch here at one little restaurant that seemed quite full (the one next to it was virtually empty). The restaurant is called Tavern Agapinis. The young man who was waiter and assistant chef invited us in and said all the food was locally grown or raised and the olive oil was from trees in their village. His mom was the cook. We sat down to a delightful lunch. I had a chicken leg with roasted potatoes baked in an olive oil/lemon sauce. My wife had the beef and pasta. The kids had spaghetti. It was wonderful.

Inside the Agora

Outside the Agora

As we were leaving, one of the older ladies at a shop said hello to L. L was too shy to respond. She offered L some shelled almonds. L politely demurred. I accepted the snack on the family's behalf. The lady said she had two children, both boys. "No girl!" she cried in mock sorrow. She said we had beautiful children. We thanked her and were on our way.

Chania also has a nice playground, which we will see in the next post.