"Now hit the tree with force," the gardener tells me while trying to stifle his laughter at the sight of me swinging a garden rake at a Koroneiki olive tree. Making the sound of raindrops, a dozen grape-sized fruits land on a green mesh sheet laid on the floor to collect them. They’ll then be transferred into a truck and eventually to a factory where the oil will be extracted.
It's harvest season in Messenia, the lush mountainous region of the Peloponnese, which is famous for its olives — and there couldn’t be a better setting to go picking for them. We're standing on Navarino Dunes in Costa Navarino, a 1000-hectare private development located three hours from Athens, surrounded by bright green rolling hills, fruit trees and one of several perfectly manicured golf courses on the property. The others are in and around the four luxury hotels on the property which include the W and the newly opened Mandarin Oriental.
