‘The navel of Crete’
Agia Varvara owes its name to the church that is situated in the middle. The church is also considered to be the geographic centre of Crete. The square in front of the church is therefore also called ‘the navel of Crete’. Besides that, Agia Varvara is also the longest village on the island.
South of Agia Varvara is a plateau that is also called ‘the plateau of the woman of cheese’ . This is recognizable by a big stone and several smaller stones on the left side of the road. The reason for this name is because there is a story about an old woman that made cheese here. One day a man came passed her and asked her for a piece of cheese. She refused to give this to him. However the man appeared to be Zeus and as a revenge he changed the cheese into stones.
Another version of the story says that the woman complained that the winter was so long. She was hoping that February would be over soon. February was very upset about this and asked his brother March if he could borrow one day so he could torture the woman a little bit longer. Therefore the month February has an extra day every four years. The woman died on that last day in February, because she could no longer handle the cold. On that day her cheese turned into stone.
