The view
All of Chania, Souda Bay and the White Mountains in one sweep.
**The best view over Chania, and it is free** โ from a hill directly above the town, where the most famous man Crete produced is buried. **Eleftherios Venizelos** (1864โ1936) was seven times prime minister of Greece and the single figure who most shaped the modern Greek state. He was born near Chania and led Crete's struggle to join Greece before moving on to Athens. He lies here beside his son **Sofoklis**, under two plain stone slabs โ no grand mausoleum and no huge statue, which is deliberate. Next to the graves stands the small **chapel of the Prophet Elias**, with a history of its own: in **1897**, when European warships shelled the Cretan insurgents' position here, the Greek flag was brought down and a man raised it with his own body โ the account has the mast struck and the insurgents holding the flag up by hand under fire. The episode became a national symbol. The view from the edge runs across **all of Chania and Souda Bay** with the White Mountains behind โ and at sunset it is the best thing in the town.
All of Chania, Souda Bay and the White Mountains in one sweep.
Plain slabs, without pomp, for the man who most shaped modern Greece.
Site of the 1897 flag episode that became a national symbol.
Profitis Ilias, Akrotiri, 73100 Chania, Crete
Because understanding him explains half of what you see in Crete. **Eleftherios Venizelos** was a Cretan from a village near Chania who first came to prominence in the island's struggle to free itself from Ottoman rule and then to join Greece โ which happened in **1913**. He moved on to Athens and became prime minister seven times, led the country through the **Balkan Wars and the First World War**, and under him Greece roughly doubled in size. That is why his name is on a street, a square or an airport in almost every Greek city, Athens's included. In Chania he is the local son โ and the grave is here rather than in Athens **by his own wish**, looking out over the town he started from.
**Yes โ it is one of the best half-hours in Chania**, provided you have transport. It is only 4 km, the visit itself is no more than half an hour, and the return is a view you simply cannot get from inside the town: the whole of Chania, Souda Bay and the White Mountains. It is **free**, so it costs you nothing but the journey. โ The one caveat: without a car, relying on the bus, count the round trip โ it can eat two hours of a short day. The best practical arrangement is to **combine it with Agia Triada Monastery** in a single Akrotiri outing, or stop on your way to or from the airport.
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