I’m excited to share with you the itinerary for my first-ever Hania Experience that I’ve created with my business partner Alexi Galanopoulos, who also happens to be one of my closest friends and Greece’s top destination management professional for luxury visitors. As you know, I’m very proud of the place both my parents were born and it’s been an integral part of my upbringing and entire life. To say that Hania is a “second home” would be wrong. It is my home. It’s the place with so many memories, dozens of family members and experiences that have become central to my core existence.
Coupled with my personal connection is the town’s uniqueness, diversity and rich history that I want to share. Hania is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. Dozens of cultures have lived peacefully or by the sword there for almost 4,000 straight years and so many of their buildings, monuments, temples– even trees, dot the landscape and make Hania one of the most culturally-diverse and historically rich places on earth.
Just above the harbor and lighthouse that was built by the Venetians is ancient Kydonia, an impressive Minoan settlement that dates the city to over 1700 BC. Steps away is the old Turkish quarter of Splantzia, complete with a functioning “red light district” and a church– unique in the world that has both a Christian belltower and a Muslim minaret.
Bordering Splantzia is the neighborhood of Koum Kapi, which in Turkish means “sandbar gate” and was once home to a sizable population of African dockworkers called “Halikoutis.” Along the port but in the opposite direction is the Jewish neighborhood, once home to Europe’s oldest Jewish community predating the era of Alexander the Great and Jesus Christ by hundreds of years.
Remnants of the brutal Nazi occupation are everywhere, left as symbols of the ferocious resistance that met Hitler’s paratroopers when they landed on the island in 1941. It’s not a coincidence that this place remains to this day as one of the most anti-fascist, independent and freedom minded place on earth— socially, politically— to its core.
The focal point of the area is the Venetian harbor with its imposing lighthouse,– which incidentally had spray painted the slogan “Get Out Americans” – in the 1980s when the populist leader Andreas Papandreou used these words to rile up his leftist base and win elections.
Scattered throughout are the places that make Hania the epicenter of diversity in Greece, including St. Rocco Church, a Roman Catholic Church built by the Venetians at the height of the Plague in the 1600s and named after the French saint that protected sick people. Today it’s an art space with a glass floor that allows visitors to see the remains of the thousands-year old temple that occupied the same spot but was used to celebrate different gods.
Several imposing minarets dot the skyline, including one in the heart of a lively street filled with restaurants, clubs and bars. But instead of knocking them down, the locals took care of them and incorporated them into their contemporary identity.
These spots, and so many more will be a part of this Hania Experience that I’m curating and even more exciting– an equally-unique cast of characters that have built their homes, families and identities in Hania.
Like the half-Cretan half-Jewish NYU graduate who left the hustle and bustle of city life to take over a winery that her father built on the property of a 300 year old family home… or the Swedish-Persian, Cretan-dialect speaking foodie and sommelier who uses local products to make some of the most celebrated menus in the world. Of course, I can’t forget my California-born sister from another mother who came to Crete and married a local and sings jazz for a living.
Saturday, October 21
My short film “Eleftheromania” will screen at the Chania International Film Festival. My film will screen in the 6pm-8pm time slot together with two other short films. I have been asked to do a Q&A after the screening. The film tells an unknown story of a trainload of Greeks– the last train from Greece to head to Auschwitz during the Holocaust and the unspeakable moral dilemma they were faced with. There’s a personal connection to why I spent three years researching and producing this film which I’ll share during the post-film Q&A.
The film is also special to me, having been an “Official Selection” at Raindance Film Festival in London and the winner of “Best Drama” at the prestigious Toronto Shorts International Film Festival. This was also the last film that my dear friend Olympia Dukakis appeared in prior to her death.
After the film, screening at around 9pm we’ll meet for a mouthwatering dinner at Salis, which will include an informal chat by Afshin Molavi about the use of traditional Cretan products in contemporary techniques.
At dinner I’ll introduce you to Eleni Anagnostopoulos, who runs my charitable foundation’s highly successful volunteer programs here in Greece and we can have a group discussion about service, philanthropy, charity and impact and how each of us has a role and responsibility to make the world around us a better place.
This dinner is hosted by Manos Sifakis, Chairman of the board of directors of the Greek America Foundation.
Sunday, October 22
Your morning is free. Take a walk. Have some coffee. Take in the fall sights, sounds and smells of the neighborhoods.
At around 11am we’ll meet at Little Monkey for a coffee and a Sfakiani Pita and start our day together.
At around noon, we’ll head to the village of Varipetro and see the olive harvest in progress. I’ll share the story of my “Agourolado” brand and what makes this different from regular olive oil. Olive farmer and life-long friend George Poulakas and his team will be on hand to show how olives are harvested and after, we’ll have a light snack in the fields (weather permitting) that will be specially curated and prepared by Afshin Molavi and a quick sharing of some of Crete’s most unique offerings. This lunch is generously hosted by Afshin & Alexandra.
We’ll be back in town around 3pm and you can rest or explore the town on your own a bit. Keep in mind it will be Sunday and most shops will be closed, other than those in the tourist areas around the harbor.
4:00pm we have reservations at my favorite traditional Cretan restaurant, Chrisostomos. I’ve already curated the menu, which will include snails, staka, pies filled with local greens and cheeses and numerous other dishes which will be served family style.
9:30pm we’ll meet for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Hania called “Maiami.” If you’re wondering, it’s the Greek spelling of the Florida city, Miami. Alexandra Manousakis will share her story, the restaurant’s story and tell us a bit about her art, which she creates in her studio inside the restaurant. Alexandra was born and raised in Washington DC, graduated from New York University and took a leap of faith to move to Crete to build a winery and several successful restaurants– all while pursuing her passion of art. PS… I’m not going to brag, but ok… just a bit. There’s a dessert named after me at the restaurant and for the Americans in the group, it will remind you of home, I promise.
After dessert, my very own, personal pocket full of California sunshine Margarita Cox, together with her trusted guitarist Maria Pelika, will lead us at the table in a fun sing along of some Greek and American classics.
I’m hosting this dinner as a thank you for attending and an expression of my Cretan philoxenia, or hospitality, that has been passed on to me from previous generations.
Monday, October 23
Morning walk in town through the neighborhoods I’ve described above, including Splantzia, the Jewish quarter and Koum Kapi. We’ll grab some cheese Bougatsa at Iordanis, and then walk a few minutes to Vranas, another bougatsa shop where the proprietor will share the story of bougatsa and why in Hania the recipe took a different twist than elsewhere in Greece.
Then we head to Vatolakos village, location of Manousakis Winery.
1pm – 4pm we will visit Manousakis Winery in Vatolakos for an immersive day including a winery tour, wine tasting of some of Crete’s most acclaimed wines, traditional lunch and an insightful conversation about the notion of being an alien, or a foreigner, in a place you might be or feel very connected to. It’s a topic that all diaspora Greeks have faced at one point in their lives or another when visiting Greece, or being at home on another continent and one that hits close to home for me, personally, as well as many who will be around the table. The winery experience and lunch is hosted by an individual who couldn’t join us but wishes to remain anonymous until the day of the event when I’ll thank him publicly, in absentia.
On our way home we’ll stop at the German Cemetery in Maleme for a bit of storytelling, where I’ll share some interesting stories about the Battle of Crete and its significance in world history and how my own family was connected.
In the evening we’ll have a farewell dinner at Abla, where you’ll eat Souvlakia and wraps like you’ve never eaten before… I promise you. “Abla” in our local Hania dialect means “little sister” and is a Turkish word, a remnant of the Ottoman era which ended just over a century ago but remains part of our language, food and culture.
I’m really excited to share this magical place with you. If you have any questions, message me.
