The four towers
A complete Venetian rectangle with the Lion of St Mark above the door.
Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) — CC BY 3.0 · Kocio — CC BY 3.0 · Kocio — CC BY 3.0 · Kocio — CC BY 3.0
**An empty Venetian castle on a shallow sandy beach** — and that odd combination, a 14th-century fort standing directly above warm waveless water, is why the place is known. The Venetians built it between **1371 and 1374** to control the rebellious district of **Sfakia**, which never submitted to them. It was the Sfakians themselves who named it mockingly: "the castle of the Franks". It is rectangular with a tower at each corner, and the **Lion of St Mark** — Venice's emblem — over the gate. ⚠ Inside it is **completely empty**: the roofs are gone and only the walls remain. No museum and no displays — you go in, walk round, climb up if they allow it, and are out in half an hour. But the beach in front of it is the prize: **fine sand and shallow water that stays knee-deep for dozens of metres**, bath-warm in summer — one of the best beaches in Crete for small children. This is also where the **battle of 1828** was fought, in which Hatzimichalis Dalianis and some 385 men died; and from it comes the legend of the **Drosoulites**.
A complete Venetian rectangle with the Lion of St Mark above the door.
Sand and knee-deep water for dozens of metres, warm and usually waveless.
Where Dalianis and 385 men died — the origin of the Drosoulites legend.
Frangokastello, Sfakia, 73011 Chania, Crete
**A phenomenon locals have reported for two centuries, most likely explained as a mirage.** The name means literally **«the dew men»**, and local tradition says that in late May — near the anniversary of the 1828 battle — a line of **armed men** is seen at dawn advancing from the direction of the monastery towards the castle and then vanishing into the sea, said to be Dalianis's dead. The scientific explanation offered is a **superior mirage**: light bending over a layer of hot air above the sea, carrying the image of distant objects — possibly from the Libyan coast — onto the near horizon. ⚠ Practically: **do not plan a trip to see it**. It is rare, needs specific atmospheric conditions, and most visitors see nothing. Treat it as a story told at the place, not an itinerary item.
**Yes if you combine it with something; no if you come for the castle alone.** It is about 80 km, but mountain road, so **an hour and a half each way** — three hours of driving for a castle you see in thirty minutes, which is a poor trade. The day becomes excellent, though, arranged like this: **Imbros Gorge in the morning** (it ends at Komitades, only 10 km from Frangokastello), then **lunch and a swim at Frangokastello** in the afternoon, then back. Or make it a stop on a south-coast run between Chania and **Plakias or Rethymno**. ⚠ And with small children the beach alone justifies the trip — water this shallow, warm and calm is hard to find elsewhere in Crete.