Avrakonte

Avrakontes (or Avrakonte for the locals) is a village about three kilometers away. It is located on the Lassithi Plateau at an altitude of 84 meters on the northern slopes of Mount Dikti, very close to Dikteon Cave.

According to tradition, the Venetian government granted some land to the Venetian, called Abraham Conte. Abraham was the first to live in this village, giving his name to the settlement. The village suffered a number of disasters during the Greek Revolution, and it was also the retreat in the Italian-German occupation.

The village houses still retain their special architecture, with the first houses being built of raw materials found by the inhabitants of the Plateau. Their characteristic feature was the low height, the three rooms with almost no windows and a door made of indigenous wood.

Avrakontes was previously known throughout Lasithi for the clay, made by well-known craftsmen from the west of the village. Today, its inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture and livestock farming, producing potatoes, beans, cereals, vegetables, fruits and legumes. They are famous for their hard work and their hospitality, as according to the tradition "... they say that the cruel god of Xenios Zeus, the virtues and the favors scattered, and in the valley, the Abrahondes stayed the most and the bigger ... "