Dörfer & Städte

Mournies

Chania, Chania · Free

Highlights & amenities

Entry: Free

About

Birthplace of Venizelos.

Mournies is a village near Chania, surrounded by olive groves. It's the birthplace of Eleftherios Venizelos, and his family house is now a museum.

Mournies, just south of Chania, is the birthplace of Eleftherios Venizelos, one of the most important statesmen of modern Greece. His family house has been turned into a small museum. Between 1997 and 2010 the village was the seat of a municipality named after him. Today it's a green suburb surrounded by olive groves.

The Chania area is the green heart of western Crete. Around the city, olive groves and orange orchards stretch towards the White Mountains, whose peaks stay snowy until late spring. The old town, with its Venetian harbour, the market hall and countless tavernas, is never far away, and the Akrotiri peninsula adds sandy beaches, old monasteries and the Venizelos graves. Food here is a highlight: try boureki (a bake of courgettes, potatoes and cheese), kalitsounia pies and fresh fish, with a glass of local raki to finish.

Around Chania

Nearest town: Chania, about 4 km by road
Nearest airport: Chania airport (CHQ), about 17 km by road

The west of Crete is the island at its most dramatic. Chania has the most beautiful Venetian old town on Crete, wrapped around a harbour with a lighthouse and a domed mosque. In the evening the narrow lanes of Splantzia and the old Jewish quarter fill up with tavernas and small bars. More about Chania