At the historical location of Profitis Ilias and one of the most popular spots featuring an uninterrupted view of Chania, are the Venizelos family tombs, a few kilometres east of the city, on the road to Akrotiri and the airport of Chania.
Eleftherios Venizelos was one of the most long-standing prime ministers of Greece and a political figure of outmost importance in modern Greek history.
He was born in 1864 in Crete and died in self-imposed exile in Paris in 1936.
Eleftherios Venizelos himself had designated this position to be his resting place before his death, a few kilometres east of his house in Chalepa.
His political life was focused on doubling the size of Greek territory and on the creation of a contemporary State.
The site of Venizelos Tombs boasts a panoramic view of Chania town all the way to the imposing White Mountains and the Cretan Sea.
At a short distance is the statue of Spyros Kayales or Kayaledakis.
On 9 February 1897, during the great bombardment of the Cretan revolutionary camp by the European fleet, he rushed into the heat of the battle, took the fallen flag in his hands and in the effort to re-establish it on its flagpole, he fell.
