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Alikianos

The village is a settlement in Chania surrounded by fragrant orange groves. It is located 12 km from Chania and it is a region widely known for the battles of its inhabitants against the German invaders. The ruins of the Tower of a Venetian nobleman named Da Molin, built in 1229, are an important sight of the village.

According to the legend, the Tower of Da Molin was haunted because of a wild crime that took place during the wedding of Da Molin’s daughter with the son of the rebel George Kantaleontas. The Venetian lord did not agree with this marriage. He therefore put sedative in the wine and hanged all the members of the family Kantaleontas.

The Byzantine church of Saint George, which will be also able to see at Alikianos, dates equally from the same period.

On the way to the plateau of Omalos towards the gorge of Samaria, we find one of the most important and historic bridges of Crete, the bridge of the river Keritis.

The bridge is made of stone and it is really impressive and imposing. It was built by the inhabitants of Alikianos in 1908 to connect the lowland villages and the neighborhoods of the village. It is a relatively narrow bridge, which barely fits two cars. However, the Archaeological Service has proclaimed it as a newest monument.

The bridge was also a place of torment for the locals during the period of the German occupation, and on the 1st of August in 1941, 108 men from the surrounding villages were executed there.

Across from the bridge you will see a majestic monument reminiscent of the Nazi atrocities and their vengeance because of the fact that Crete resisted fiercely and did not surrender.

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