traveldk.com

Built to guard the harbour, this massive bastion now houses an eclectic Naval Museum, including a display about the Battle of Crete.

The excellent collection includes Minoan pottery and clay tablets, Classical and Hellenistic sculpture and glassware, and some fine mosaics.

The market, housed in a 19th-century building, is best visited first thing in the morning. Local farm produce is piled high, including weird-looking fish on beds of ice. There is every imaginable variety of olive, herb and spice.

With its excellent collection of tools, looms, spinning wheels, rugs, wall hangings and embroidery, this museum reveals and preserves traditional Cretan village skills (see Folklore Museums).

The Turks built this multi-domed building to set their stamp on Crete after the conquest of 1645. It is the oldest Ottoman building on the island.

Next to the Firkas, the Byzantine Collection covers the 1,000-year history of the Byzantine Empire, with displays of coins, jewellery and statuary, mosaics and some fine icons.

Recently restored, the 15th-century synagogue was used by Chania’s Jewish population until the German occupation of 1941–45, when they were deported to death camps by the Germans. A plaque bears the names of 376 Jews who died when a deportees’ ship was inadvertently sunk by a British submarine.

The massive Schiavo Bastion and the high walls either side of it are the best preserved of the landward section of the Venetian fortifications, built in the mid-15th century as the threat of Turkish invasion loomed. (No public access.)

Walk out to the little lighthouse at the tip of the Venetian harbour wall for a fine view of the waterfront, harbour entrance and city.

The beach, between the Chrissi Akti headland and Kalamaki, about 3 km (2 miles) from the city centre, is the best near Chania, with its long curve of sand and shingle, cafés and restaurants, parascending and water sports.