Few words on history... Chania restaurant After the fall of Chania (then called "La Canea" by the Venetians) to the Ottoman empire in 1645, the Turks set about an extensive building program of converting Catolic churches to mosques and constructing numerous private and public baths (Hamam) and fountains. The "Hamam" combines the tradition of the Roman and Byzantine baths with their underground hypocausts and pipes conveying hot water and steam to the appropriate rooms. Three of these Turkish public baths still remain today, but of course none are in operation! The building in Zambeliou street, next door to "TAMAM" is obviously of the Venetian period as can be seen by the original rectangular window openings inserted by the Turks. These bath buildings have six large hemispherical domes (without drums) and previously had an upper store, which was demolished by the bombing in 1941. Look through the grilles of the window opening sand so you can see the holes in the domes that allowed the hot steam to escape. Tony Fennymore
