In the sixteenth century, the Venetians gave the town its current name, taken from the chapel of Agios Nikolaos on the peninsula of Limena. This small Byzantine church contains rare frescoes from the eighth, tenth and eleventh centuries and is a rare example of a Byzantine church built during the troubled times of the eight century when the Arabs were pressuring the Byzantine empire. The church is on the grounds of the Minos Palace Hotel, Agios Nikolaos Bay on the north edge of the city towards Elounda.