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| Friendly Farmer Harvesting Olives |
As you can probably infer from the name, Montecarlo is a
hilltop community, so most of our 6km hike was uphill. We left the hotel,
jumped a chain on a blocked off road, and proceeded through the woods toward
our destination.
Along the way, we passed several olive groves in the midst
of being harvested by the local farmers. Each tree is handpicked by farmers on
step ladders, and for the best tasting oil, they must be pressed with 3 days
after harvest. But I will explore all the intricacies of olive farming later. However,
it is important to note there were many piles of olive boughs piled up along
the trail. I picked up and olive branch and extended it to Joe, but he took it
and smacked me with it. Not quite the peaceful proceeding it was supposed to
be.
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| The Hanging Tree |
We also came upon a gigantic oak tree. It’s several hundred
years old, and the branches are so heavy that they must be supported by posts. This
tree also has a claim to fame as the hanging tree in Pinocchio and as a hanging
tree for witches. If you find yourself confused by this reference, that’s ok, I
was too. Apparently, in the orginial text of Pinocchio a Cat and a Fox hang
Pinocchio after they rob him, but he won’t die because he is a marionette. I
thought the Disney version was a little racy, but from what I can glean, the
original is worse. My dislike of Pinocchio aside, it was cool to visit the town
of his origin.
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| Terraced Olive Valley |
Our guide was excellent, and he pointed out typical Italian
plant life during the hike. In addition to the olive groves we also encountered
Cyprus trees and pine nut trees. The latter look just like normal pine trees,
but they are the bearers of the delicious pine nut, harvested from the pine
cones. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see any nuts in the cones because it was past
the prime harvest time of late summer. We
also encountered a tree laden with orange fruits. We mistakenly thought they
were peaches, but our guide said no, this tree bears the kaki fruit. Never
heard of kaki? How about persimmon? When ripe, this variety of fruit has an
inside like pudding, and can be eaten with a spoon. We didn’t get to try any
though.
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