If you visit the little village of Kavousi in eastern Crete, after you have explored the 20 churches within a 1-mile radius of the town center, there are other things you can do.
You can seek refreshment at Café Chez George or a lovely and substantial dinner at Ntakos. Or you can buy rusks, or paximadia in bags from Café Chez George and make your own Ndakos, or Ntakos, or Dakos, salad!
Tholos beach.
The Tholos Beach is a 30-minute walk downhill from Kavousi, through olive groves. There is a little cantina there, a pebbly beach, and the easiest hike in the world to an ancient Roman tholos-shaped granery.
50 meters, 3 meters ascent… we might make it!
But the real attraction of Kavousi, the one that causes Deluxe Motor Coaches to stop on the side of the main road, is the Sacred Olive Tree. This living relic of pre-Christian times continues to attract pilgrims to Kavousi.
A huge olive tree!
There are many, many, many, many websites that will tell you all about this olive tree. Briefly, it is huge, with a maximum diameter of 4.9 meters (17 feet), and a max circumference of 14.2 meters (46.5 feet). It has been dated to c. 1,350–1,100 BC, making it between 3,124 and 3,364 years old.
It is as old as the “lush olive tree” (τανύφυλλος ἐλαίη) under which Odysseus awoke when the Phaeacians first returned him home to Ithaca (Homer, Odyssey, 13.93-13.125). It is the result of a Mastoidis olive shoot grafted centuries ago onto a wild olive stock. In his book The Other Greeks Victor Davis Hansen writes about how the technology of grafting, applied to the olive, is an unsung heroic moment in the history of human culture.
What interests me is that this tree is a tourist attraction. Kavousi isn’t exactly on the way anywhere, but people drive out and up into the hills to see this tree. I think I understand. Quite frankly, all Bronze Age archaeological sites look pretty much the same, unless they have been subject to controversial restoration.
Bronze Age archaeological sites look like this.
The fact that this tree is still alive, has been living and growing through so many centuries as human history went on and on, speaks to some people, perhaps more so than do dusty excavated foundation-walls and cisterns.
If you are waiting at the Department of Motor Vehicles or on hold with the cable company, you can have fun going to TripAdvisor and reading the reviews of the Olive Tree of Kavousi.
People are moved to various degrees.
“Nice tree but nothing more than that” (★★★☆☆ ); “Can’t say it was on my bucket list, but you don’t get to see 3000 year old trees very often.” (★★★★☆); “Anciest olive tree in the world!” (★★★★★); “Awesome! It was a very great moment to stand in front of that ancient tree and be able to touch it - felt like touching history itself” (★★★★★).
2024 was my second annual visit to the olive tree. “Great tree… now my family’s favorite Mastoidis! Would go back!” (★★★★★).