A small boutique hotel with 9 guest rooms,
Ionas Hotel is a carefully restored historical home, centrally located in a
charming neighborhood of the Venetian Port of Chania.
Situated in the most quiet, authentic section of town, with many of the city's
monuments and museums within walking distance, Ionas Hotel is also served
by numerous local markets, cafes, and restaurants
History
The hotel known today as Ionas can be found in the neighborhood of “Plathia
Rouga” in Splantzia, in the old town of Chania on the island of Crete.
Near the historic church of Agia Irini, it is also in the same neighborhood of
the monastery Santa Maria della Misericordia, and is a fine example of a
reconstructed architectural treasure of the most historical part of Chania.
The stone Venetian elements such as the archway in the entrance of the hotel
have been repaired and restored, while at the base of the core building there
still remain the original walls from 1538. The wooden facade of the original
building was recreated based on the traces that were found, and are an example
of the Ottoman elements of the building.
The historical building that now houses Ionas Hotel came into the current
owner’s family in the 1920s, when his great-grandparents came from Asia Minor
with the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey following the Greco–Turkish
War of 1919–1922. Despite parts of the house being destroyed by German
bombardment during the Second World War, its occupants continued to live in the
main part of the house, and it has remained in the family’s hands until this
day.
Several years ago, inspired by the thought to preserve a small piece of
personal family history, as well as part of the greater whole of the area’s past,
the building’s owner decided to restore the home and open it to the public as a
top class hotel. The philosophy behind the painstaking reconstruction was to
preserve original details using traditional building techniques, while keeping
modern needs and comforts in mind. The project had the rare good fortune to be
guided by original historical documents, family records that were kept for
almost a century.