The Olive Trees of Crete, Greece | 17 Sep 2014
35.2100° N, 24.9100° E
The more you travel to and around the island of Crete, the more you realise that an olive tree carpet expands all over the island and literally covers it, from Chania to Agios Nikolaos and back. Olive trees are everywhere and it is probably unlikely that you will ever see as many in one place ever again. If the sheer number of trees is amazing, in many cases their size and age is even more impressive. The Olive tree of Vouves is probably one of the oldest olive trees in the world and still produces olives today. The use of tree ring analysis has proven the tree to be at least 2,000 years old, while other studies suggest that it is 4,000 years old. After thousands of years, the relationship between the locals and their olive trees is stronger than ever and this is reflected in the country’s cuisine. Throughout Greece and specifically Crete where people consume the most in Greece, olive oil is added to almost every dish. Greece has by far the largest per capita consumption of olive oil worldwide, over 26 liters per person per year.