ABC Wednesday: St Nicholas in Splantzia

It's ABC Wednesday again and M is for minaret.

On first sight, this photo doesn't look very spectacular - the sign reads (translated from the Greek) "BEWARE - MUNICIPAL WORKS - (name of construction group)." In the background there is St Nicholas church in the Splantzia district, whose dome is being repaired, but what on earth is a mosque's minaret doing on top of the church?

This was once the site of a church built by the Venetians, dedicated to St Rokkos; along come the Turks, turning it into a mosque. When the Greeks finally took over the running of the island, they left the minaret as it was, standing above a church dedicated to St Nicholas. To the left of the church (but not visible in the photograph) stands a house which was once owned by a Jewish family. The main square on the left has always been a meeting point for the locals of the area, filled with tables and chairs for having a coffee or just relaxing. It's a pity these works have stopped the locals from enjoying each others' company in a central location away from their cramped apartments and tiny box houses in the narrow streets of this inner-city suburb right behind the eastern side of the old harbour.

It is no wonder, with such a rich multi-cultural heritage, that the district of Splantzia in Hania, considered a poor people's suburb, is still as multi-cultural as ever. It is one of the few places in Hania where you will hear more foreign languages spoken rather than Greek, the language of the Greek nation. The people who live there are mainly economic migrants from Eastern Europe and North Africa, and there are shops owned by foreigners, mainly for the benefit of foreigners, including a second-hand shop, something still considered quite a novelty in a traditional, trendy summer resort town like Hania, on the island of Crete, in Southern Greece.

The minaret was almost ready to fall down; in fact, it was leaning to one side, clearly screaming out to the council that it was a danger to public safety. At one point, people started calling it the leaning tower of Hania. Eventually, though, the message got through, and the council restored the minaret by strengthening its structure; it is deemed of too significant historical importance to be allowed to fall into ruins.

Splantzia

It feels strange to be walking down this alley uninvited, as if I'm prying into the private world of people who are forced to live their life with a lack of dignity. They're probably used to the tourists strolling down the 'romantic' alleys leading to the trendy cafes surrounding the old harbour in Hania. This is Splantzia, once a Jewish and then a Turkish settlement in years gone by. Now it's a low working class inner-city suburb that appeals to new migrants to Hania, with its cheap rents and multi-cultural atmosphere. The residents live in crammed quarters, squashed against each other, always on top of or under or to the left or the right of someone else. Privacy cannot exist in such a place.

It's not too hard to work out who lives in the house on the left: sports shoes, worker's clothes, spicy smells emanating from the one-roomed house, foreign sounds, dark faces. The building has been renovated by the look of the smooth stucco wall, but it hasn't been painted. There's a corrugated iron rainstopper above the door that looks as though it was stuck on with a bit of sellotape. This dwelling (is it a house?) represents cheap housing for Hania's economic migrants.

The old woman dressed in black at the end of the street is also a poignant case. She's an old resident of the area, and this is probably the only home she's ever known. The street serves as her clothesline, her porch, her verandah and her front garden, where she's lined up a few flower pots with geraniums. Summer means she doesn't have to stay cooped up in her crammed house, and she can watch the world go by in the fresh air - it's a car-less zone by its very nature.

Something old, something new...

Here's a colourful example of the old houses behind the old port area of Hania. Some are luckier than others, but that's just a natural part of the wear and tear process. The red one has been completely renovated and is now an architect's office.

These houses are very similar to the ones that were built by former Greek residents of Alexandria in Egypt, at a time when there was a Greek colony there. One of my wonderful students at MAICh told me that he was amazed at their similarity. The travelling Greeks always took their culture with them.

The well of the Turk

What do you think you will find if you walk 50m up the road to the well of the Turk? This sign is found in Splantzia, on one of the high walled narrow buildings in the maze of streets that was once the Arabian-Turkish area of Hania.

Sun, sea and derelict houses

This sign is hanging above a real estate office for primarily non-Greek EU citizens from Northern Europe wanting to buy retirement homes in Crete. The room above the arch is basically part of a dilapidated old building; the boys playing under it are children of immigrants. The photo was taken in the Splantzia suburb of Hania, where tourists are likely to walk around in the 'romantic' alleys of the old town (which is why a lot of real estate agents base their offices in this area), completely oblivious to the social problems inherent to the region.

SkyWatch Friday: Castle in the sky

The minaret used to be called the leaning tower of Hania, because it was in such a bad state of disrepair that it needed to be repaired or demolished. It was literally leaning to one side in a rather built-up area where the houses have been built so closely together; if it had fallen, it wold've been difficult to get the rubble out, let alone repair it. This kind of building can't be demolished; it is under protection orders, but it's allowed to fall down of its own accord. Its daily presence in Hania involves a significant part of the history of the town, which was once ruled by the Ottoman Turks who presided in the area for four centuries.

Right now, the minaret in Splantzia looks like it could be mistaken for a castle spire - maybe Rapunzel's going to throw her golden hair over the balcony...

Minoos St

This is a typical street sign in Greece; always a little blue plaque, with the name of the street (ODOS) written in Greek and English. Below the English transliteration is an explanation in Greek of the origins of the name. In this case, the street of Minos, as the sign would be translated (the double 'oo' is not a mistake: it's the way the Greek language signifies theEnglish word 'of') is named after a 'mythical king of Crete'. He's the one we mean when we talk about the Minoan civilization.

These days, to most locals of Hania, Minoos St, found amidst the lower working class Splantzia and Koum Kapi suburbs, with its many maze-like narrow side-streets, signifies the area where the red lights district is located in Hania - approximately 15 houses deal in this sort of business according to my husband (how should he know, you ask me? - he's a taxi driver). And even if you don't speak or read Greek, the houses which deal in the 'red lights' business are still easy to find - just look for the red lights on top of the doors of the houses in the narrow alleys behind Minoos St.