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THE PAXOS OLIVE PROJECT

Today, the olive industry on the Ionian island of Paxos, once the island's economic mainstay, is not what it used to be, as there is very little money in the production of olives and far more in tourism. But the two industries should and can so very easily go hand in hand, which is exactly what is happening on Paxos, where Chris Griffiths, co-owner of Paxos Life Activities, is working with local olive grove owner, Spiro Anemoyiannis, on a project to improve the quality of the olive trees and of the olive harvest on the island.

Rather than leaving his trees to grow wild, Spiro is cultivating them, thereby keeping them smaller but at the same time ensuring that they remain healthier. And instead of allowing the olives to remain on the trees until they drop, each November he picks them by hand and encourages everyone else, including Chris, to do likewise, so that they can all be taken to the cold press in Fontana on the same day, in order to produce very high quality truly virgin olive oil that will attract a far higher price.

There are more than 200,000 olive trees on Paxos and they are one of the main attractions of the island, so a project to look after the trees, improve the harvest and then produce truly virgin olive oil for the island is extremely important, and it is also particularly fitting that tourists should be involved in that project. So Paxos Life Activities is encouraging summer tourists to return to Paxos each November to help pick the olives and at the same time learn more about the island and the way of life there. Paxos Life Activities was actually set up to improve the experience for visitors by encouraging them to get to know and understand the culture, history and geography of the island, and also to help sustain tourism out of season. The olive project should help to achieve all this and more. 

From time to time Spiro runs short courses on The Olive and the Vine as part of our programme of activities designed to give visitors the opportunity to learn more about the culture, history and landscape of Paxos. He is a real expert on the olive and knows just about everything there is to know about olive farming, the production of olive oil, the use of olives and their oil in cooking, and also about their medicinal uses.

For Further Information: Please contact us.  We will be particularly happy to help anyone who wishes to visit Paxos in November for the olive picking to find a suitable property to rent, as this will be out-of-season and it will therefore be important to choose a property with heating. 
 

Paxos Life Activities Ltd
telephone: 0044 1444 258048 or 0030 69810 18036

email: [email protected]