Abdanites is a semi-mountainous green village built at an altitude of 290m. It is 36 km from Rethymnon. The settlement is mentioned in Venetian documents from 1577. In 1890, Emmanuel Lambrinakis in his book “Geography of Crete” mentions that there was a municipality of the same name and that the county of Avdanites is flat, pleasant and inhabited mainly by Turks. Many buildings of the Abdanites retain their folk architectural character, while others have elements of the Venetian period, such as the house of Afon Mahmutakis, which was probably the mansion of a Venetian lord and has been declared a preserved monument. In the village square, amidst the plane trees, there is a fountain, built in 1909, consisting of two fountains with small troughs. There is also the church of Panagia Zoodochos Pigis and remains of an early Christian basilica near the newer church of Agia Anna.
