Art & Culture

The Traditional Strata — Weekly Tuesday Procession Through the Old Port

Every Tuesday evening a different Cretan folk group parades the Venetian Harbour in costume, free to watch, all summer.

Every Tuesday evening through the summer, the Municipality of Chania turns the Venetian Harbour into an open-air stage. A different traditional dance and music association leads a costumed procession from the Neorio Moro sailing club, past the Giali Tzami mosque, and on to Trimartiri Cathedral square, finishing around 21:00. Now in its fifth year, the Strata has become a genuine local fixture, drawing well over a thousand dancers and musicians across the season from associations as far off as Apokoronas and the Cretan diaspora abroad. It costs nothing to watch, and the old town's tavernas are right there on the quay if you want to make an evening of it. A different association performs each week, so the crowd along the harbour is never quite the same twice.