Culinary journey: cooking and photographing during the olive harvest

Culinary journey with many special (photo) moments during the olive harvest

The olive harvest is our coat rack during this culinary journey in the valley of Sparta. We walk between the impressive olive trees, pick olives and take a look at the local olive oil factory. You will learn to make delicious dishes with olive oil and take beautiful pictures of the preparation and the end result.

Cooking & Photography

At the beginning of the trip we will give a food photography workshop and show you how a good photo story is put together. We will tell you about the important role of olive oil in Greek society. In Xirokambi we will use a flexible program, where we will go out together, cook in groups of 2-3 or go out for a nice meal.

Six to eight weeks after the trip we will meet again online to hear what Greek dishes you made.

Culinary journey in the fall

November is a wonderful month to be in Greece: the temperatures are pleasant (18-20 degrees), the (autumn) colors are beautiful and who knows, the first snow may already be high on the mountains. There is plenty of activity in the countryside. The olive harvest starts in the Sparta valley at the end of October. In the orchards you see families at work: on ladders in the tree, ripping olives from the branches and pruning the trees at the same time. The pickups drive loaded to the pressing plants. It is always busy there.

An eye for landscape and culture during the olive harvest

We keep coming across olives during this culinary journey in Greece, but that doesn't mean we don't notice the other beautiful things around us. The cozy Greek Xirokambi is the setting for the trip. The village is located at the foot of 2400 meter high mountains in the valley of Sparta. An environment with impressive nature and thousands of years of history and many photogenic places.

Culinary journey: day-by-day programme*

*The final content of the program depends on the weather and whether and where people are harvesting.

Thursday November 6 – Arrival

You will be picked up at the airport together with the other participants. We drive in just over 3 hours to Xirokambi, our base during this cooking and photography workshop. After arrival we will have a nice meal together.

Friday, November 7

The mountain village of Gorani is a 20-minute drive from Xirokambi. Higher-lying olive groves yield lower yields, but the olive oil is even better than the oil from the valley. Here we meet Voula, who is busy with their olive harvest together with her husband. The trees provide oil, olives, soap and firewood for their own use. Usefulness and necessity are combined with the pleasant: olive picking goes hand in hand with meeting and eating well. Here too, there is plenty to see and photograph.

In the evening we will have a nice dinner together.

Saturday, November 8

Saturday is market day in Sparta. We will do our shopping here for tonight's cooking workshop. We will also take a look at the shops that sell everything an olive farmer needs, such as olive cans, tins and tools for the olive harvest.

Cooking workshop: together we prepare a cozy meze table, the Greek version of tapas.

Sunday, November 9

Today we dive into the olive groves to see the families working in and under the trees. They will undoubtedly ask you to help with the picking.
In the afternoon we will talk about the importance of olive oil in Greek society and give a food photography workshop. With 2-3 participants we will then prepare a delicious Greek meal.

Monday, November 10

In the morning we take the bus to nearby Sparta, where we visit the excellent olive oil museum and wander among the old olive trees at the excavation site of ancient Sparta.
We drive back through the olive groves.

In the afternoon there is room to discuss your ideas for your photo story (if you want to make one). In the evening we go out for a nice dinner in the village.

Tuesday the 11th of November

Olive farmer Christos takes us to the local olive oil factory. His organic olives are not put on a big pile here. For him and every farmer, the olives are pressed separately into virgin olive oil. It is fascinating to watch and the process lends itself perfectly to taking photos.
Today we will prepare lunch and dinner in two groups.

Wednesday November 12

On the last day of this trip we take a look in the kitchen of one of the local restaurants and take a nice walk to one of the oldest olive trees in the area. In the afternoon we make our own lunch. In the evening we return to the restaurant where we were in the morning for a nice closing meal.

Thursday November 13 – return journey

This special culinary journey in the Peloponnese has come to an end. You will be taken by taxi bus to the airport in Athens.

After a few months we will meet online to hear how you are doing with Greek cooking at home and to admire your photo stories.

Guidance for a culinary trip to Greece

The culinary journey is guided by photographers Anton Harfst and Laurien van den Hoven. Laurien is well versed in Mediterranean cuisine and gives cooking workshops in addition to photography workshops.

Anton and Laurien have lived in Greece for many years, still have a house in Xirokambi and know the area and the people there well.

Good Mobility

We expect the participants to be in good shape. The environment is mountainous, roads and paths are uneven.

Location Xirokambi & Accommodation

Xirokambi is a lively village with beautiful stone houses, 15 km south of the famous Sparta. You will stay in hotel Taleton, a small and attractive hotel with, among other things, an old - marble - storage for 40.000 liters of olive oil.

Within walking distance of your hotel is the pleasant square, with cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy the local Greek cuisine. There are several shops and an ATM.

Transfer from and to Athens airport

For this trip you book your own flight. You can fly directly with KLM, Aegean or Transavia. There are also various options to fly with a stopover. We advise you to book a flight with hold luggage, so that you can take back herbs and a tin of olive oil, among other things.

Transfer Athens – Xirokambi on November 6: departure 17.30:XNUMX pm
Transfer Xirokambi – Athens on November 13: arrival between 14.30:15 and XNUMX:XNUMX PM

Local Transport

For this trip we use a taxi bus and the local bus. The taxi bus picks you up in Athens and brings you back.

The Greek kitchen

Good food is actually a permanent part of every photo tour that we organize. And certainly if we have been working on photographing the olive harvest for a week. Every restaurant in Xirokambi prepares dishes with its own olive oil. We go out for a nice meal, take a look in the kitchen and also close the last meeting with a good Greek meal.