Day 41

Brooks Koepka throughout his career has claimed that the middle part of a golf round is boring. During the first holes there's the pressure of getting off to a good start, and the final holes the pressure of closing out.

I wouldn’t say this blog is the same, and I certainly have felt no pressure thus far. But now that we are in the 40s, I’m starting to realize the inevitable Day 50 is coming close.

The issue is the dreaded Day 51: the 100 item to-do list is opened back up…

Day 41

Kalamata | December 5, 2022

If you’ve ever been on a Royal Caribbean cruise their 24 Hour Café carries brioches (my absolute favorite). I remember looking for a replica brioche at home and could never find it. Of course 12 years later, I find it when I least expect it: Greek Bakery on the side of the road. Identical Brioche (air fist pump)

Before that brioche I woke up, cooked eggs, packed a bag and started a 2 hour drive inland towards Laconia.

An hour after the brioche I arrive and am treated to an espresso that was filled up halfway up the coffee cup. I am not a big coffee drinker and super sensitive to caffeine. The issue was my thirst levels were sky high and ended up drinking most of that triple espresso by accident.

The next four hours were spent with a producer (Laconiko) that I also met from the Fancy Food conference in June. We got along well and he took me on a beautiful tour of the two separate groves. The highlight of the property is the private beach extended from the end of one of the groves. Dark sand, calm water, not a human in sight. Pure peace and quiet.

We got a nice little conversation for the podcast and I headed out by the afternoon.

There were two ways to go home: mountain road or regular highway. 1 hour of daylight left, 1.5 hours of driving. But I’m only here once! I have to take the mountain road. I DO AND GOT HOME AT 7:45. Never doing that again. At least I got a nice pic for the IG story.

The earlier part of the night was occupied by dinner cooked by the host (so unexpected and generous) alongside a world cup game & coordination of grove visits for the next couple of days. At the end of the game I wrote Day 40 and came to a fork in the road. Do I go to sleep or go out? It's 1230 am and pretty tired. Well, its my final night in Kalamata and I actually have a legitimate social plan for once with people my age (actually second night in a row).

I went to sleep at 6am. Only comment is when I walk into the club, the song "This is how you remind me" was playing but fully translated to Greek. Had me laughing.

1 Olive Oil Takeaway

No takeaway today

My computer charger is officially at the point of no return, I’m afraid this will be the last typed blog of the trip - iPhone transcription may be the next best option.

-Jack

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