Chania Old Town: The Venetian Harbour, 1595 Lighthouse, Topanas and Tabakaria

Built over the ancient Minoan city of Kydonia and fortified by the Republic of Venice between 1320 and 1645, Chania Old Town is universally considered one of the most atmospheric harbour cities in the Mediterranean. Enclosing a crescent-shaped basin where Venetian stone shipyards (Neoria), an Ottoman multi-domed mosque and narrow bougainvillea-draped lanes meet, the entire historic core can be explored on foot in a atmospheric morning and sunset stroll.

1. Walking the Seawall Mole to the 1595 Venetian-Egyptian Lighthouse

Start at the eastern end of the harbour past the seven vaulted 16th-century Venetian Shipyards (the Grand Arsenal and Neoria, where war galleys were repaired indoors) and step out onto the narrow 600-metre stone breakwater mole that separates the calm inner harbour from the open Sea of Crete:

• The Lighthouse (Faros): originally constructed by the Venetians in 1595 and rebuilt in the 1830s during the Egyptian administration of Crete in the slender octagonal silhouette of a minaret (21 metres high), walking out along the seawall to the base of the lighthouse 30 minutes before sunset gives you the ultimate panoramic view looking back at all of pastel Chania with the 2,453-metre White Mountains (Lefka Ori) rising directly behind the rooftops.
• The Küçük Hasan Pasha Mosque (Yali Tzami, 1645): sitting right on the middle quay of the harbour, this rose-domed mosque was the very first Ottoman building erected in Crete in 1645 and now hosts art exhibitions.

2. The Four Historic Quarters of Chania + The Tabakaria Tanneries

1. Topanas & The Jewish Quarter (Ovriaki, West of the Harbour): climb the stepped flagstone alleys of Angelou and Theotokopoulou streets inside the aristocratic Venetian Christian quarter, visiting the restored 15th-century Etz Hayyim Synagogue on Kondylaki Street and the Firkas Venetian Fortress at the harbour mouth.
2. Splantzia & Kastelli Hill (East of the Harbour): the former Ottoman quarter where locals dine under a giant plane tree on 1821 Square beside the Church of Agios Nikolaos, the only building in Greece that has both a Christian bell tower AND an Ottoman two-balcony minaret standing on opposite corners.
3. The Tabakaria District & New Archaeological Museum of Chania: walk east along the rocky coast past Koum Kapi to Tabakaria, a dramatic row of 19th-century stone leather-tanning factories built directly into the sea cliffs, now home to romantic cliffside seafood tavernas (like Thalassino Ageri), right below the ultra-modern New Archaeological Museum of Chania.