Picking olives & petting a baby goat on Naxos

This was an absolutely wonderful day, a day that you can only experience during the off-season, and if you know someone who has a farm. Yesterday we had received a request if we wanted to come along and pick olives on a farm that our friend Thodoris' brother Yiannis has in northern Naxos, near Apollonas.

Of course we wanted to come along. But the day started as usual with a slow breakfast on the balcony. Breakfasts are sacred to us and must not be eaten under stress. No, it should be slow, and lots of coffee should be drunk. When we finished breakfast, we took the car to the farm, which we managed to find after some effort.

When we arrived, the olive picking was in full swing so all we had to do was grab a comb and start combing. Fun! Before lunch we managed to comb two trees before it started to rain. We were taught that you should not pick olives when it is raining, the trees can be damaged by the moisture that penetrates where the olives were. Instead of picking olives, we were given a tour of the large "garden" on the farm. Everything possible was growing in the garden on the farm. Among other things, the tastiest clementines we have ever tasted.

We managed to harvest two olive trees before the rain came.

Cleaning leaves and other debris before the olives are gathered.

Freshly picked olives before they are pressed and made into olive oil.

Here are pictures from the garden, which is so exotic to us.

Lotus fruit. Tasted heavenly

The farm owner Yiannis with the lotus tree.

Pomegranates. Also very tasty.

Clementine tree.

The figs were not as sweet as we are used to, therefore also much tastier.

The oranges were as yummy as they were beautiful.

There were also animals on the farm, including a bunch of ugly turkeys...

...and a bunch of angry guard geese.

Lunch consisted of various fruits from the garden: pomegranates, clementines, oranges, figs and lotus, and a plate of homemade specialty from the village of Koronida. The food tasted good, until we found out what we were eating...

What am I eating, I thought, and immediately got the answer to the question.

The exact same second the picture above was taken, I was told what I was eating: pig stomach! You might understand the look on my face when I finish eating. The question I asked myself was: should I be polite and eat it up, or should I spit it out? I chose to eat it up, and quickly swallow the pig stomach with a small glass of home-brewed wine. It tasted like chicken. The pig stomach, I mean.

The pig stomach went down thanks to a glass of strong wine.

The wine cellar where we got olive picking wine.

On the way home to Naxos Town, we first stopped in Apollonas and had a coffee at Taverna Venetico. We chose Taverna Venetico for the simple reason that it was the only taverna that was open. Apollonas was just as deserted as all the other tourist resorts on Naxos.

Apollonas on northern Naxos during the off-season.

Our last stop before Naxos Town was at Thodoris' farm, where he has sheep, goats, chickens and pigs. There we met a two-day-old baby goat. It was so cute, and so incredibly soft. In the picture, Thodoris is looking for the mother of the kid, happily she appeared after a short while.

The insanely cute and soft baby goat.

Camilla fell in love with the little cutie. Thodoris said he would name it Camilla. Then she was happy.

If you are good at picking olives, you get to pet a cute baby goat as a reward.

The evening was cold and muggy. The sun set already at 5:30 PM. Before we went out for the customary ouzo, we played a few games of tavli in our room. Dinner was taken as usual at Metaxi Mas. Tonight it was also packed. No wonder, the choices are not that many.

A few games of tavli (backgammon) before dinner.

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