Sotirelis Olive Oil Museum

Also in Panagia
is a small museum where you can delve into one of the island’s oldest
industries.

Beautiful,
gnarled old olive trees sprout on all corners of Thassos, and before olive oil
production was modernised in the 20th century there used to be an olive mill in
every village.

At this museum
you can see one in action, as Sotirelis has the only functioning water-powered
mill in Greece.

This old
mechanism dates to 1915 and continued to press olive oil until 2007 when the
enterprise was moved to a new facility.

On your visit
you’ll be talked through the process of crushing and pressing olives, and
there’s plenty of black and white photographs for depth.

The shop sells
oils infused with lavender, orange and tangerine, as well as olive oil-based
beauty products and tea made with olive leaves.