When you see Chania today, you will find it hard to believe that this pretty little seaside town is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe. Perhaps this is the spot where Zeus brought the maiden Europa after abducting her in the form of a bull. The area has been settled since the Stone Age. The Minoans established the first real city, Cydonia, which Homer also mentioned in his Odyssey. Since those times, numerous peoples and cultures have inhabited and shaped the city – Mycenaeans, Achaeans, Dorians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians and Turks have occupied and helped to build the city.
