Tanaquil's trip to Crete, June 13th - June 20th 2003
The Fortezza of Rethimno is one of the few large features of the Venetian Era left in the city. It is a carefully renovated renaissance fortress with a large space which is now unoccupied, but used for all kinds of cultural happenings. It is an open air museum, there is an open air theatre for plays and music concerts, which are given quite often in the tourist season, from April until October. Archaeological research and old pictures of the Fortezza have pointed out, that in the past the Fortezza could hold the population of Rethimno, when the city was in danger of an attack from inland or from the sea. And these attacks took place quite often. The Fortezza had various wells to provide water for the people inside, small churches (some of which are still intact), various arsenals, a prison (used as such in the Turkish Era, now the Archaeological museum of Rethimno with a nice collection of ancient antiquities) and a mosque in the Turkish Era, of which the central building still stands.
