Day 39 - The Olive Oil Journey

Athens --> Kalamata, GR | December 3rd, 2022

Booked my car rental for 9am but the 845am wakeup without a packed room made the on-time pickup impossible. I end up staying in bed for an extra 30 minutes doing research on how to spend the day. Thankfully one of the olive oil producers made honey as well and on its Instagram story posted a picture from a Honey Festival that was going on this weekend. The translations made it so difficult to figure out the location of the festival. I had thought it would be a 2 hour drive away. Turned out to be only 14 minutes from the car rental.

So I pack up and cab over (ordered on Uber app because I don’t like using cash and Uber is the only way for cabs to accept credit card) to the car rental shop. I was still mildly sketched out since my Europcar incident from Day 36 but these concerns were instantly quelled upon my arrival. Super smooth rental process by friendly people. They even upgraded my Economy car to the next size. And the total for the 7 day booking (assuming no damages): 79 euro. The only downside was no Apple Carplay, but I [have and] will [continue to] survive.

I drive 15 minutes and parallel park onto a curb and first walk inside the entrance to an intramural basketball game, leave (after a 2 minute period of reminiscence of my childhood) and get the directions to use the other door. Red carpet and huge sign at the entrance for the festival: found it.

The credit card ("cc") machine wasn’t working and of course I had no cash so they generously waived the 2 euro fee to let me in (I paid back at the end after scrambling to find Euros in my backpack - I actually still have 200 shekels floating around because a gas station made me take out cash as collateral given they didn't do CC prepayments...but I wanted the CC points after withdrawal which ain't smart since I'll be paying spread on the conversion back to either dollars or euros).

I had no idea how big this conference would be, but now having attended several conferences, I typically like to do the walk through to get my bearings then attack section by section. As I am walking through I'm tempted to try all the honeys people are shoving in my face. But because I really had no clue what I was doing, I resisted most of the temptation until I learned more about honey. There ended up being around 60-70 vendors (+/- 20) and I eventually make it to the back section which had all the equipment. I found the perfect guy who knew English, wasn't biased towards the flavor / farming method of his own honey, and knows how to teach. A 15 minute conversation that pretty much guided me throughout the whole conference - maybe I'll interview him one day for the pod.

The next 3 hours I sample honeys, connect with farmers, grab a quick lunch and did my final tastings. And how could I forget, I had such a sugar rush! When I do Olive Oil tastings, no matter how much Oil I consume, my body is never affected. I cannot say the same about honey. I definitely felt a jittery buzz for the final hour of the event.

Biggest surprise of the event was how distinct some honey flavors were. There were definitely familiar honeys but I have some new favorite honey varieties that I had never knew existed.

Ok enough with the honey - I was actually so ready to get out of there and go back to my focus on the trip: find great olive oil and be happy.

The honey event was followed by a 2.5 hour drive consumed by phone conversations (with dad) and in-person toll stops every 15 minutes on the highway.

I drove straight into the heart of Kalamata and had no time to futz around, I had already missed 55 minutes of the USA world cup game and found a sports bar to catch the rest. Lets just say the sports bar was more like a Cigarette smoking poolroom with 1 pool table, 1 tv, and a lot of seating. I ordered Black Tea because I had to order something.

Right after the loss I got a 5 euro beard shape-up and booked a stay on the spot.

This was a bit of an adventurous booking but I really liked the view on Booking.com of the sea (Mediterranean I think). I end up meeting him at a hotel and I follow him up to the house. Lemme just say I was "pedal to the medal" up a pitch black twisty and turny mountain just to not lose him (I actually have it all on video - for future release on TikTok). We get to the house and he claims its not ready as they didn’t expect a person to book that late (I don’t blame them).

But I walk in and the room looked perfect… I was confused. So as I grab my stuff and put things away he brings me beers, fresh eggs from chicken, bottles of water, and his wife's fresh bread and Christmas cookies for me to nibble on. And he has the most gracious personality. Best host ever [outside my family].

He eventually goes upstairs where he permanently resides (past 18 years) with his wife and I shower, write, change, and drive into the village for dinner and late night drinks. I was genuinely surprised by the number of people out. I never found a crew and was rather bar-hopping solo. Some elements were fun, some elements were ehh, but a good experience overall. That Messi goal was filthy and I reacted accordingly at the bar.

1 Olive Oil Takeaway

Olive Oil is extremely fragile and so many things could go wrong in production. After learning about Honey and Balsamic Vinegar, I have even more respect for farmers that consistently produce high-quality Olive Oil. Honey and balsamic also require great attention to detail but the differences between producers don’t seem to be as great. Honey is a simpler product once off the comb and balsamic is a pretty simple formula that requires time and proper elements. Olive Oil involves many machines, quick movement, intense organization, continuous innovation, and so much more.

-Jack

Thank you for reading and welcome to the blog! I'm traveling through Europe on a quest to find great Olive Oil.