A Week in Olive Country — Greece Culinary Tour

The Experience

Seven days.
A lifetime of stories.

In November, a small group of thirteen guests will travel through the Peloponnese at the most beautiful moment of the year — olive harvest season. The countryside is alive. The oil is fresh. The tables are full.

You will press olive oil still warm from the mill, taste wine in the cellars where it was made, meet the families who have worked this land for generations, and sit down to meals you will spend years trying to describe.

More than the food, the wine, or the olive oil — you will leave with friendships you didn't expect and memories of a Greece most travelers never see.

This is not something you can book on a travel website. This is your official invite.

What You'll Do

A week of extraordinary food, remarkable people, and unforgettable experiences.

Olive Harvest & Press

Harvest by hand in the ancient groves of Androussa. See the olives go through the press, taste oil that is hours old — still warm, poured over crusty bread, and maybe over ice cream. Take a can or two home with you.

Private Wine Tastings

Visit Nemea wine country and taste in the cellars where the wine is made. We visit Ktima Palivou — their reds have graced the menu at Ana Sortun's Oleana in Boston. You'll taste them where they were born.

Artisan Producers

A feta producer, a graviera maker, a sheep butter tasting in Tripoli. Learn from artisans in Nafplio and meet local beekeepers. From sheep to brine to table — and hive to jar.

Cooking & Local Secrets

Multiple sessions throughout the week — at the grove, in a local home near Kalamata, and a private class with Chef Pri. Every kitchen is a doorway into a tradition.

Markets & Fresh Fish

Morning at Kalamata market. Lunch in Marathoupoli where the fish comes off the boats. Shopping for local products with a chef at your side.

Village Life & Local Homes

Ancient Messini ruins. Nafplio's cobblestone streets. Village squares where time moves differently. And a meal as a guest in a local home near Kalamata — a home-cooked table that no restaurant can replicate.

Boat Cruise

An afternoon on the Nafplio bay with views of the Bourtzi fortress rising from the water — or a speedboat for the adventurous at Costa Navarino.

Farewell Dinner at Soil

Your final evening in Athens at Soil, a Michelin-starred restaurant where chef Tasos Mantis grows his own ingredients and cooks with the seasons. The week began in an olive grove. It ends at a table that shares the same philosophy.

Your Archaeological Guide

Archaeologist Dr. Rania Bassi joins us throughout the week — bringing ancient sites to life with expertise and storytelling that no guidebook can replicate. From Nafplio to Ancient Messini to the Acropolis, you will walk these grounds with someone who has spent a career studying them.

Stay Active

This is not an adventure travel tour — but it moves. Every day brings walks through village streets, hikes to ancient ruins, and time on the water. For those who want it, swimming is an option weather permitting. Spa time at Costa Navarino, morning movement, and yes, Greek dancing.

Day by Day

Your week, day by day

This is a presale for subscribers. The full itinerary will be released publicly in the next two weeks — subscribers who book now lock in early bird pricing before it opens to the public.

Nov 10

Arrival & Welcome Evening, Drepano

Two luxury van departures from Athens bring us to the Peloponnese. Before checking in, we gather at a private villa in Drepano with panoramic sea views — BBQ lamb on the spit, live music, dancing, and an evening that sets the tone for the entire week. This is Greece at its most generous.

Nov 11

Palamidi, Nemea & Aeolia

Morning climb to Palamidi fortress with Dr. Rania Bassi — sweeping views over the Argolic Gulf and a story that spans centuries. Then northwest to Nemea wine country for a private tasting at Ktima Palivou, whose reds have graced the menu at Ana Sortun's Oleana in Boston. Back to Nafplio for dinner at Aeolia Restaurant.

Nov 12

Bourtzi Boat, Tripoli & Arrive Costa Navarino

A morning boat cruise on the Nafplio bay with the Bourtzi fortress rising from the water — a gentle send-off from one of Greece's most beautiful towns. Then south by luxury van, stopping in Tripoli to visit a graviera cheesemaker — sheep butter, feta, and aged cheese straight from the source. Arrive Costa Navarino, Pylos. Dinner overlooking the bay of Navarino.

Nov 13

Olive Harvest, Village Home Lunch & Ancient Messini

Hands in the branches, nets on the ground — harvest as it has been done for centuries. Midday we sit down as guests in a local village home near Androussa for a home-cooked meal prepared by our local cook. This is the meal guests talk about for years. In the afternoon, a private guided visit to Ancient Messini with Dr. Rania Bassi — one of the most impressive and least-visited ruins in Greece, brought to life by someone who knows it deeply.

Nov 14

Kalamata Market, Olive Press & Cooking at the Grove

Saturday morning at the Kalamata market — olives, honey, herbs, and the energy of a Greek market in full swing. Then on to the Androussa olive press — see the harvest become oil, still warm, poured over crusty bread. Back to the grove for a cooking lesson with Pri, using what the land and the market gave us that morning.

Nov 15

Marathoupoli & Athens

A final morning in the Peloponnese. Lunch in Marathoupoli where the fish comes straight off the boats — one of the most beautiful spots on the coast. Then depart for Athens by luxury van. Check in to Electra Palace Hotel. Farewell dinner at Soil, a Michelin-starred restaurant where the philosophy of the week carries through to the last bite.

Nov 16

One Last Day in Athens

Breakfast together before a final exploration of the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the Acropolis Museum with Dr. Rania Bassi — a guided experience unlike anything you'll find on your own. Alexia has taken this tour every year since they met, and it never gets old.

Then we'll trade fine dining for local favorites with a street food lunch in the heart of Athens — because some of the best bites in Greece are found standing on a sidewalk.

For those extending their stay, Alexia will host an optional farewell dinner at one of her favorite Athens restaurants. Airport transfers will be arranged according to your flight schedule.

Investment

Only 13 spots available.

Early bird pricing for the first 5 guests who reserve.

Early Bird · First 5 Spots

$7,500

per person · double occupancy

$8,500 · single occupancy

Regular Price

$9,500

per person · double occupancy

$10,500 · single occupancy

Every guest receives a complimentary Evoo Beeswax Balm — handcrafted by one of our Peloponnese growers. A taste of what's waiting for you in November.

Reserve your spot with a $1,000 deposit. Balance due August 15, 2026. Room type confirmed via booking platform.

✓ 6 nights accommodation — 3Sixty Hotel, Costa Navarino, Electra Palace Hotel
✓ All meals, wine, tastings & experiences
✓ All ground transportation by luxury van
✓ Private producer visits, cooking classes & boat cruise
✓ Expert hosting by Alexia throughout
✓ Evoo Beeswax Balm welcome gift
✓ A bottle or can of fresh-pressed olive oil to take home — additional oil available to purchase and pack in your suitcase or ship as a package
– International airfare
– Travel insurance (required)
– Personal extras, shopping & spa treatments
– Private car hire outside itinerary (available on request)

Terms & Conditions

✓ $1,000 deposit is non-refundable and due at time of booking.

✓ Balance due August 15, 2026: Early Bird $6,500 double / $7,500 single. Regular $8,500 double / $9,500 single.

✓ If you cannot attend, your deposit can be transferred to a new guest. No additional charges apply.

✓ Need a different payment schedule? Email alexia@alexiacommunications.com and we will do our best to accommodate you.

✓ Travel insurance is required. We recommend Travel Guard or your preferred carrier.

✓ You will receive a confirmation email. Save alexia@alexiacommunications.com to your contacts and check your spam folder.

By submitting your deposit you confirm you have read and agree to these terms. Alexia Communications is not responsible for flight cancellations, delays, or travel disruptions beyond our control.

A Cambridge Connection

Cooking Inspired by the Eastern Mediterranean

Pri Paige serves as Executive Chef at Sofra Bakery & Café — founded by James Beard Award–winning chef Ana Sortun, founder of Oleana, Sarma, and Sofra. Sortun has spent decades building her culinary practice around the flavors, spices, and traditions of Turkey, Greece, and the Levant. That same philosophy — fresh, seasonal, and deeply connected to the land — shapes how Pri approaches this week in the Peloponnese. You're not just traveling with a talented chef. You're traveling with someone who has spent her career inside one of America's most respected Mediterranean kitchens and has cooked and traveled in Greece with Alexia. The Peloponnese will be new to her too — and she's already planning the recipes.

Sofra meze plate — fried cheese, olives, cucumbers, tomato jam

A Sofra Meze Plate. On our tour you'll taste sfela — a traditional grilling cheese from the Peloponnese that became a favorite in Chef Ana Sortun's kitchen. Through longstanding relationships with Alexia's family and their Greek food import business, regional products like sfela found their way from Greece to some of Boston's most beloved restaurants. Chef Pri will prepare her own version of a Sofra-inspired meze platter for us — featuring sfela.

Your Hosts

Founder & Host

Alexia Hatziiliades

A decade distributing Greek products through Olympiana, her family's import business, building producer relationships, and sharing her heritage. She knows these groves, these families, and these tables — and she's bringing you inside.

$Chef Pri Paige$

Executive Chef

Pri Paige

Executive Chef at Sofra Bakery & Café, Cambridge and Allston. A career built on seasonal, scratch cooking and working directly with farmers and local producers. Her passion for the land — and for Mediterranean cuisine — makes her a perfect fit for a week in the Peloponnese.

Archaeologist & Licensed Guide

Dr. Rania Bassi

Born in Athens, raised in the UK, and holding a PhD in Ottoman Archaeology from the University of Birmingham, Dr. Rania Bassi has spent her career exploring the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean through excavation, research, and teaching. A fully licensed guide in Greece and Austria, Rania transforms every site into a living story. Ancient ruins become places filled with real people, real lives, and the events that shaped the world we know today. She's one of Greece's most extraordinary guides — and one of Alexia's favorite people to explore with.

Yamas.

We will do everything in our power to maintain this experience as depicted. Should any adjustments be necessary, we will always offer the best available alternative at the same star level.

A Week inOlive Country

Seven days.A lifetime of stories.