Greece Peloponnese Style: Oranges, Olives, Fish, and Islands

Everyone will be transferred upon arrival from the Athens airport to the group hotel. There will be a brief introductory meeting late this afternoon followed by a welcome dinner close to your hotel. You are likely to gather at approximately 5 or 6PM, therefore you will want to land early enough to settle into hotel and prepare for your first pictures starting with the Acropolis during the blue hour. The evening will continue with a delicious Mediterranean dinner.  If anyone would like to add additional evenings at the hotel, please contact Strabo tours. Overnight Athens (D=dinner)

Since this will be a Sunday, pass by a local church to witness how locals practice their Greek Orthodox religion. As people come out of church, it will be a good moment to capture some portraits. Continue your journey with a stop at a shipwreck stranded on a sandy beach for 40 years now. The story goes that the ship was used to smuggle cigarettes and it was abandoned by its owner. In the afternoon arrive in Gytheio, a beautiful town by the water with many fishermen, this was the port of Sparta (which is inland). Here they have the tradition of drying octopus in the sun before grilling it.

Photograph the imposing lighthouse and stroll on the promenade between the fishing boats, tavernas and the colorful traditional houses up on the hill.

If the weather cooperates you will rise early and photograph sunrise. Then wait for fisherman to return to the port and see what they caught. They will be busy untangling the fish from the nets, sorting the catch and cleaning it right on the boat. They use small traditional motorboats and catch 10 to 50 pounds of fish each, it is fascinating to see and photograph. In the afternoon travel to Monemvasia, the only town on a small island. This was a fortified town, and it is well preserved, the houses are built of brown stones and its pedestrian streets are like a labyrinth. Be there to capture the sun setting and beautifully lighting of the town.

If you didn’t see enough fishermen the previous days, try your luck again this morning. Then explore the south tip of Mani peninsula, one of the best-preserved regions in Greece. Stop by an almost abandoned town with stone towers, a 5th generation potter, and a cave with access by boat.   Overnight Gytheio (B, D; B; B)

Visit the place where the biggest event in the world took place for a millennia and who’s ideals still inspire athletes to this day.  The ancient site of Olympia, the place where the Olympic games took place over 2 millennia ago.

From mainland Greece you will take the ferry to the island of Zakynthos and head straight for some of those iconic seascapes with white cliffs and azure colored water. One of our stops will be the picturesque Cameo Island, just off the coast and connected through a walking wooden bridge.

For sunrise you will be in the main port of Zakynthos to capture the town in the warm morning colors as the island wakes up to life. Then take a boat trip around the island to see and photograph some of its most famous sights: the blue caves and the Navagio beach with the shipwreck. Navagio beach and its location are truly wonderful, and pictures hardly do justice to the beauty of this place. In the afternoon, as the sun finally shines on the beach. Travel above to see it from another angle, looking down at the beach. There are three observation points which offer different perspectives so you will spend some time here . Overnight Zakthynos (B, D; B)

From Zakynthos island travel back to mainland by ferry. Since the olive harvest is a main reason for coming to Greece in autumn, You will travel to the heartland of olive groves, home to the famous Kalamata olives. Greeks will agree that some of the best olive oil comes from the region of Messinia (in Peloponnese), the area surrounding the town of Kalamata. You will find out that there are olives for eating and olives for making olive oil and that there are different kinds of olive oil. And that terroir, just like with wines, has a very important role in the quality and taste of the olive oil. You will learn all about it, see locals harvesting it, making the “liquid gold” and try the different types of olive oil.

Explore the endless olive groves from this area, see how locals harvest olives and how olive oil is produced. You will also have an olive oil tasting together with a light, early dinner. Overnight Kalamata (B, Olive Oil tasting D)