Agios Nikolaos

Agios Nikolaos is a picturesque and popular resort town with a harbour pulsating with activity, together with restaurants and cafes providing a cosmopolitan atmosphere. The town itself has still retained its traditional style.
The sea in Agios Nikolaos is superb and the surrounding areas are famous for their sandy beaches and beautiful bays.

Agios Nikolaos has a very small church named after the Byzantine chapel, built on an area called 'Nissi' in the 7th century. The chapel houses interesting old frescoes and has the most wonderful, breathtaking view of the bay of Agios Nikolaos.

Agios Nikolaos has a vast assortment of eating places with tavernas and restaurants with a selection of snacks and Cretan and Greek specialities, as well as coffee shops.
In the evenings there is a choice of numerous night clubs and discos or a chance to see the more traditional Cretan dances at selected clubs.

The municipality of Agios Nikolaos a festival during the summer season, famously known as "Lato". This festival consists of a number of music and dance groups including ethnic and foreign, folkloric, and modern. There are also theatrical performances and water sports competitions are organised.

The history of Agios Nikolaos begins in ancient times when it was the port for Lato, a powerful city during Hellenistic times. The harbour was still used during Roman times and the first Byzantine period although its importance had diminished. After this, it disappeared from history only to reappear in 1206 when the Genoans built the fortress of Mirabelo and gave its name to the town and bay. An earthquake destroyed the fortress and no trace of it remains. In the sixteenth century, the Venetians gave the town its current name, taken from the chapel of Agios Nikolaos on the peninsula of Limena. During the Turks' rule the town was uninhabited and only after 1870 did people move here, mainly to escape from Turkish persecution. COPIED

The famous landmark of Agios Nikolaos is the small, circular lake known as 'Voulismeni' in the centre of the resort. It is linked to the sea by a narrow canal, which greatly adds to the beauty of the lake, while its natural surroundings (red rocks within green plants) make it a wonderful sight.
According to mythology, the goddess Athena used to take her bath in this lake and it was believed by many that the lake was bottomless. However, a depth reading done by an English sea captain, calculated the lake to be 64 metres deep. It is especially picturesque area with an assortment of open-air cafes and restaurants.

The sea in Agios Nikolaos is superb and the surrounding area of the city is noted for its sandy beaches and beautiful bays.

Agios Nikolaos is all the home of the second finest Archaeological Museum in Crete, where splendid archaeological findings are exhibited. The museum was found in 1970 to house the numerous archaeological finds, mainly from eastern Crete, which had previously been housed in the Museum of Heraklion.