Chaniá

On the northwest coast of Crete, Chaniá stands over the ancient city of Kydonia. Excavations beneath the Kasteli quarter have revealed a Minoan settlement whose name appears on Linear B tablets from Knossos. After recapturing Crete in 961, the Byzantines fortified the town against renewed Arab attack, reusing stones from older buildings.

Venetian settlers established Canea on the ancient site in 1252. Its fortifications were strengthened under Venetian rule, and priests, monks and artists found refuge on Crete after Constantinople fell in 1453. In 1645 an Ottoman army took the city from the Venetians after a siege lasting two months. Under Ottoman rule the Dominican church of Saint Nicholas became the Sovereign's Mosque, while new mosques and baths added to the city's changing streets.