Nakli Traditional Guesthouse

The traditional guesthouse Nakli is located in the centre of the old town of Rethymnon, in a picturesque pedestrianised street, in a small distance from the beach and from the most popular tourist town sights. Recently the building has been renovated with respect to its historical value and by using the same traditional materials (stones and wood) and techniques that had been used for its initial construction.The building has been converted to a traditional guesthouse that has three independent luxurious apartments with equipment and furniture that follow the total aesthetics of the building. On the second floor, the terrace has been retained so as to provide an excellent view to the Venetian town castle Fortezza.

Nakli in the Cretan Turkish dialect means the oral narration, the fairy tales for adults. The narration took place every evening with a new story in the wide loft of the port café, where the Turks use to hang out and it was always followed by a certain ritual. Late in the evening, when everybody will come to the café and take their sit, the story teller will arrive and tell the nakli, that is the evening's fairy tale. Imagination and the elaborate lie is in the heart of nakli. All know that they listen to lies, however lies are magical, nobody talks about them, or interrupts them or doubts about them.

The old town of Rethymnon is one of the best-preserved towns of the Renaissance. Lying in the heart of modern Rethymnon, it combines the oriental features of the Turkish period with Renaissance-style Venetian architecture.   After the Venetian conquest of Crete (1204), the town of Rethymnon was built according to the rules of Venetian architecture. The original craftsmen were Venetians, but these later were replaced by Cretan murari, Venetian-trained master builders. The layout of Rethymnon is directly linked to the sea, with the main Venetian street, the Ruga Maistra (today’s coastal Venizelou Avenue) running parallel to the sea. Today the old town of Rethymnon is a living museum of monuments of past centuries. Despite the damage sustained in the Second World War, many Venetian and Turkish monuments still stand, especially as the town has not been struck by major earthquakes.

The street of Diogeni Moschoviti is a pedestrianised one, in a restricted circulation area where cars are forbidden to enter during the summer period. This means that the building is exempted from car noise in a period of increased tourism. In a small distance (300 metres) the beach of Rethymnon starts. It is an organized sandy beach more than 20 kilometers which is extended from the town of Rethymnon to the west areas of Perivolia, Platanes, Adelianos Kampos, Scaleta. The location of the guesthouse is privileged since it is situated in a small distance from the historical monuments, the tourist sights, the museums and other places where cultural events take place.