The View From Nestor's Palace

4000 years ago Pylos was established and, under King Nestor, became one of the leading cities of the Mycenean Empire. Pylos' impressive natural harbour is a natural place to establish a kingdom and a visit to Nestor's Palace is a terrific way to appreciate how a King might rule such a place. Most impressive of all at this site is the 3300 year old terracotta tub that still sits in it's original position. Nestor, famed argonaut, and a battle advisor in the Trojan war lived to be quite an old man and so no doubt enjoyed many a soak in his beautiully painted tub. There is something strangely surreal in standing so close to the bathtub of such a legendary man.




The palace is an impressive size and was discovered with a staggering cache of pottery.



We pop in to visit a neighbouring tholos tomb before we wind our way back down to the coast through countless olive groves...

Olive dusting

And just when we thought our allergies can get no worse, we sleep in the thick of an aged olive grove. Irresistably beautiful, but equally torturous for all the ear, nose, and thoat rubbing deemed necessary by the billions of invasive bits of olive pollen that coat our gear and invade our bodies come morning. Ah, but it was every bit worth it for the tuscan-like views, the outdoor olive tree shower, and the charm of sleeping by a very old church in an olive grove.

achoo! sniffle sniffle

Spring in the Peloponnese is full of wild flowers. Everything is in bloom! A feast for the eyes, a nose full of aromathrapy

and allergens. Yikes! Everything is coated in a hazy dusting of gentle olive green and that'd be because olives have blossoms too - millions and millions of them. They tickle your nose and web up your eyes and could just about make you craaaazzy! Camping provides no refuge fom them especially because olives cover every cultivatable piece of land. Allergy sufferers: beware the olive stuffed state of Messinia home to the beloved Kalamata olive. Achoo! Achoo!

The Sacred Olive

Rumour has it that when Athens was first founded there was a competition between Athena and Poseidon to present its citizens with a gift. The patron deity and namesake of the city would be chosen based on the gift. Athena, goddess of wisdom presented them with the first domesticated olive tree. The olive tree became synonomous with gentleness, wisdom, peace, and charity. It also quickly became the money tree of the mediterranean and there has been no looking back ever since.

In the 6th century BC, cutting down an olive tree was punishable by death. Landowners were encouraged to clear their land for the creation of olive groves as it was decreed the only exportable agricultural product. The end result was one of the world's earliest man-made ecological disasters. Great swathes of land, unsuitable for the cultivation of olives, was cleared and large scale erosion followed.

Today when passing through Laconia and Messinia, two of the world's top producers of olives and olive oil (come on, it's hard not to love a kalamata olive), groves of this sacred tree still make up a large part of the surrounding landscape. In Messinia, epic feuds have been fought over arable land for olives.