It is a wonderful little museum, full of history. You can taste (no obligation to buy) and purchase many traditional products made of oil (what a surprise!). We really like that the hospitality was fantastic!
Great effort by the owner who put in a lot of passion in order to transform this olive press into a well-informing museum on the process followed in order to produce olive oil, with the original equipment staying in excellent condition despite their age. There is a small cafe right next to it, where you can taste some local home-made products, too!
The Olive Press was one of my highlights while visiting Naxos! The owner was so friendly and helpful, and she let us taste all of the products she had for sale. She made a delicious olive cake, which paired perfectly with the olive marmalade and fig jam. The museum is pretty neat, and it is very close (10 minute drive). An absolute must while you are in Naxos! To read more about it, check out my blog post - http://livingtoat.com/portfolio/eggares-olive-press/
Finally found the small museum (NOT in Galini as advertised) and it is very sweet. The owner told us all about the olives and how they used to be prepared. Very knowledgable. We were then given tasters of oils,various olives, jams and tapenades to try. No obligation to buy at all but once tasted difficult to resist! It's not a long visit but worth doing.
It was so interesting learning about the olive press and how olive oil is made! We were given complimentary bread with olive oil, marmalade spreads, and cookies, all of which were delicious!
We stopped here for a coffee and although the museum is small, the patron showed us around and gave us some samples of really good local produce. It was fascinating and a really good place to get interesting gifts and have a coffee.
The owner, Nicoletta, gave a brief but animated explanation of the traditional way olives were harvested and pressed. Her pride in the family business was readily apparent. The generous offerings of tasting items, with no obligation to purchase, was a relaxing way to sample the multiple products made from their olive oil.
We stopped at this place along our self-declared "tour" of Naxos. (we rented our own car and went) We know the owner, Nikoletta, through the hotel we stayed at in Chora. *NOTE* She is the kindest, most knowledgeable, and most genuine person we met during our stay in Greece* Her enthusiasm and obvious pride in her family's work made our experience all the better. She started by explaining, with great family insight, the process by which olives are extracted from the trees and then pulverized to create the delicious olive oil we know to be indigenious to Greece. (If you are short on time, then you should know that she took no more than 20 minutes to explain everything; the presentation was detailed, yet concise) Then, Nikoletta layed out a sumptuous array of delicious tapenades, jams, cakes, cookies, and other olive byproducts which we then proceeded to taste. If you are ever in Naxos, you MUST visit this lovely museum which is located in a quaint little town surrounded by olive/fig trees, and grape orchards.INTERESTING and INFORMATIVE.
We saw this hidden gem while we were driving around Naxos and decided to stop for a quick look and surprisingly spent about an hour in there. The owner and our personal tour guide was so happy and enthusiastic talking about her family's olive press and how they used to make the olive oil with the old machines. We then got served complimentary espresso while tasting the many different delicious oils, jams and olives with beautiful bread and homemade cake. Highly recommended!
The enthusiasm and passion of the owner and staff is contagious. We had a concise but informative tour and then we we offered to try many of the olive related goodies. The olive jam was divine. So nice to see people who love what they do and sharing it with people. Gorgeous! Must do in Naxos