Agora Market is the oldest market on the Crete Island, and, if you are in Greece, you definitely should visit it, because that is the only place, where modern architecture is merging with an ancient one. 

Now the market is located in the very heart of Chania. But previously, until the middle of the 19th century, the city boundary was on the place of the market, and all the merchants were gathering there to sell or exchange their precious goods.

They put their goods just on the ground, on the wagons, or special beddings, spoke to each other loudly and traded. There, like in the other markets, people bought something just after bargaining with the merchants. 

In the 19th century, the city authorities decided to construct a building for the market, they chose the famous architect Drandaki for it, who adapted the project of the Marseille covered market with the local landscape. This is how the locals got a legal workspace in the building with the roof.

The market was built in the shape of a cross and has four entrances, each of them points to the side of the world. During the Second World War, when the Nazis sieged Greece, one side of the market was destroyed, the other one was taken by the soldiers. After the war, the building was reconstructed and is used nowadays.

Today on the market there are 70 counters, where you can buy food and other various souvenirs. And in local taverns, you can ask the merchants to cook you the seafood or fish that you have just bought in the market. The merchants gladly treat customers with the local drink “rakia” – this is the Greek vodka, which the Greeks themselves call “cycludia”, which can be translated as the “grape home brew”.

Also, you definitely should try some sweets, which are sold on the market in large quantities. There are sold probably the best traditional bakery products in Chania.