Hania

Hania (The Inns)

Hania is a whole region not just the city itself. The Hania Prefecture stretches from north coast to south and from the west coast almost to Rethimno. To most visitors, however, the name refers to the city.

Anyone visiting this part of Crete must go to Hania to see its beautiful Venetian harbour with its mosque (the minaret was destroyed in WWII) and the fascinating old town with its warren of narrow streets and alleyways behind it. Everywhere you’ll see classic Venetian buildings, many with additions and modifications from the Turkish period of occupation.

There’s something for everyone. It’s a vigorous, thriving place with wonderful architecture, museums, culture, excellent restaurants and shops, a covered market based on the cruciform market in Marseilles, street markets and open-air theatre. Add the lively night life and it’s a matchless place.

Naturally enough most of the shops around the harbour cater to tourists but if you venture a few hundred metres from the harbour you’ll find many excellent modern shops.

Historically and archaeologically, the hill of Kasteli is one of the most significant parts of the city, as it has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Excavations have revealed remains dating from the first Minoan period (2800-2000 B.C.) and that the area was also inhabited in the post Minoan period (1580/1550 - 1100 B.C.).

Hania Harbour

Old Hania

Hania harbour at night.

Between 1380 and 1100 B.C. it developed into a commercial centre which was in constant communication with the rest of Crete and Greece. Because of its location and the fertile plain to the south it became (and remains) an important commercial and transport junction.

The city was devastated in WWII but, at last, is being carefully restored largely as a result of increased prosperity brought about by tourism. The whole of the old city is a conservation area with strictly controlled development and restoration.

There has been much debate about the origin and meaning of the name and when it changed from the original Kythonia. The name Hania, which translates as ‘Inns’, first appeared in 1211 and Canea (the Latin name) in 1252 when the Hania area was given up to the Venetians.

The most widely accepted explanation is that the name was associated with a big village ‘Alhania’, named after the god Valhanos (Vulcan). The occupying Sarasin Arabs found Alhania easier to pronounce than Kythonia but then confused it with their own ‘Al Hanim’ (the Inn). When the Arabs left the definite article ‘Al’ was dropped and the rest of the name translated to the Greek ‘Hania’.

The Mosque on the harbourfront