Sougia () is a community and a small village in Chania regional unit on the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is part of the municipal unit of

East Selino East Selino ( - ''Anatoliko Selino'') is a former municipality in the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kantanos-Selino, of which it is a municipal uni ...

(''Anatoliko Selino''). It is located on the south coast of the island, 70 km south of

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

. The community consists of the following villages (population in 2021): *Sougia, pop. 95 * Koustogerako, pop. 25 *Livadas, pop. 3 *Moni, pop. 8 Sougia is reached from Chania by car in 2 hours or by ferry boats from Palaiochora, Agia Roumeli, Loutro and Hora Sfakion. Although it is not one of the larger towns of the province of Selino, Sougia is interesting to the tourist, providing a beach, walkways, mountains and interesting remains of an ancient city and old

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

churches. Sougia has some tourist services, such as small hotels, rooms to rent and a few taverns, cafes and bars. Sougia was the ancient city of Syia, a harbour of

Elyros Elyrus or Elyros () was a town of ancient Crete, which the ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' places between Kydonia, Cydonia and Lissus (Crete), Lissus. It had a harbour, Syia (Συΐα), situated on the south coast of the island, 60 stadion (unit), s ...

. In the village church, an important basilica of the Byzantine era, was found a beautiful mosaic, now exposed in Chania's

Archeological Museum Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology ...

. In 1943, during German occupation, Germans razed the villages Livadas, Moni and Koustogerako, by way of reprisal for local partisan actions. Legends also suggest that the Cyclops in Odysseus' adventure lived in Sougia. Municipality officer: Nikolas Koltsidis

References

External links

Sougia InfoCrete pictures
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Beaches of CreteLocal sougia taxi
{{Kantanos-Selino div Populated places in Chania (regional unit) Kantanos-Selino