Greece has a long history of harvesting olives and is an olive producing country par excellence. The Mediterranean sun and the Aegean winds lend the fruit its unique taste. Greece is the world’s third largest producer of edible olives and olive oil.
120 million olive trees are spread around the country. Travellers looking for an interactive holiday and a true taste of rural living must visit Greece during the harvest season from October to December to enjoy a unique immersive experience.
Special agro-tourism accommodation units have opened up in Evia, Lesvos, Crete, Kalymnos, Paros, Kefalonia, Kalamata, Kythira and other regions. It allows tourists to help with olive harvesting and experience the unique way of life in the region. The accommodation is simple but comfortable. The courtyards are endless olive groves, where visitors can get in touch with nature and experience every stage of the harvest.
Visitors can pick olives using age-old harvesting techniques, working for just one day or for weeks in a row. Guests can also help transfer the harvested olives to a traditional olive press, learn the traditional art of extracting precious oil and watch how the golden oil begins to flow and fills up the air with its aromatic fragrance.
Once the olives have been pressed, anyone who has helped is welcome to take some oil home or fill up a couple of bottles bearing their very own personalised label. Visitors can also adopt olive trees. In return, they get a certificate with information about the olives the trees produce, plus a sample of the olive oil made from the adopted trees every year thereafter. At the end of the harvest, there is a huge feast and a celebration to reward the efforts of all those who have helped.
The best-known olive varieties are the Kalamon olives, the konservolia variety from Amfissa, olives from Arta, Atalanti, Rovies on Evia Island, Stylida, Volos, the throumpa variety from Thasos Island, Chios Island and Crete.
You can visit olive museums located across the country to get acquainted with the history of the olive tree, its cultivation in the Mediterranean basin, and its connection to Greek culture.