With an olive branch in hand — and the spirit of hospitality and Ilia in their hearts — thousands of tourists bid farewell to Katakolo

Delighted and holding an olive branch, tourists who had arrived on the cruise ships OOsterdam, Costa Luminosa and Rhapsody of the Seas said goodbye to Katakolo on Thursday.

The small celebration of hospitality was organized by “Federation of Olympia” and the Association of Eleians for Culture and Development “Politeia Ilidas Olympia”, with the participation of the Katakolo Port Fund. The Association’s initiative, which began in 2010 to promote Eleian hospitality and local products, left the very best impressions on the thousands of visitors.

During the event, informational leaflets about Ilia and about the “Route of Truce” were distributed, along with an olive branch—an eternal symbol of the Truce and of Peace.

In a specially arranged area, members of local associations and volunteers offered tourists traditional products from Ilia (olive oil, olives, feta cheese, wine, fruit, handmade sweets, and more). Members of the Cultural Association of Ancient Ilida “Ancient Ilida” treated visitors to the traditional riganada (rusks with fresh homemade tomatoes, excellent olive oil and oregano from Andritsaina) as well as handmade sweets.

In these challenging times for everyone, the hospitality celebration was supported by the following businesses: OLYMPIA XENIA, Simotas O.E. (catering supplies), Zarras bakeries (Vartholomio) and VASILIKON (Birbili, Pyrgos), the pastry shops ILVIZACH and Patsios, Mercouri Estate, the dairies “Olympia Feta” and KALOMOIRIS, the olive mills MARITSAS (Chavari), Spiros Papazafeiropoulos and Nik. Maraziotis (Chavari), extra virgin olive oil KOTINOS (Pegasus Imports Exports), the butcher shop Ilias Diamantopoulos (Pyrgos), and the fruit producers Giannis and Fotis Georgopoulos (Vrana).

During the event, many tourists expressed their wish to purchase some of the products on offer. However, as the organizers had informed the participating companies, visitors were either directed to local shops in Katakolo or were given informational leaflets and business cards of the companies that had provided products for the event.

The hospitality celebration concluded with dance performances by the Katakolo Cultural Association “O Faros”.