At an altitude of 620 metres, there is one of the most beautiful villages of the Municipality of Zarakas, Charakas, with 250 inhabitants.
The village is built amphitheatrically at the foothills and on the low slope of the hill called "Rachimini". The village was founded during the Byzantine times, when, with a gold bullion of the Byzantine emperor Basil I (881 AD), a naval station was set up in what is now called "Paleochora" to monitor the passing ships - mainly the Saracen pirates who had occupied Crete. There, the ruins of a Byzantine settlement with walls, buildings, a tower, cisterns, two anonymous temples and the renovated church of Prophet Elias, with frescoes dating back to the late 14th - early 15th century, are preserved. The settlement of Charakas has been known by this name since the 16th century, while it has been continuously inhabited from the 13th to the end of the 17th century when it was abandoned with the Sixth Venetian-Turkish War being the main reason for this outcome (1684-1699). After the war, residents moved to where the current village of Harakas is located.
In the village, the Primary School stands out, which has been characterised as preserved and the stone-built Parish Church of the Three Hierarchs, of Byzantine style. The place known as "Cross", where there is a large metal cross, is also worth visiting. There you can also visit the picturesque church of Agia Paraskevi. To the northeast of the village, you can see the chapel of Agios Ioannis Theologos, which used to be a monastery with cells where monks used to live in.
