The ruins of the Sfakia fortress are in the northern side of the settlement, on the Kasteli hill, next to a pine forest. The fortress is the last built by the Venetians in Crete. Its building started in the 15^th- 16^th century on the ruins of a Byzantine fortress.

The fortress was damaged after the battle of the people of Sfakia and the Venetians for a girl with gold hair (“Chrisomallousa”). A horseman of the fortress met a beautiful girl and, charmed by her beauty, kissed her. The girl got furious, slapped him, and the horseman cut her hair with his sword. When the girl’s family found out about the incident, they killed the guards of the fortress and destroyed it.

When the Turks came back, they tried to repair the damages and renovate it, but the people of Sfakia kept destroying it every night.