Just when our teacher tour thought Nafplio, Greece couldn’t get any more gorgeous and charming, the owner of our hill-top hotel invited us to go orange picking in his private orchard!
We decided to get our hands on those oranges on our last morning in Nafplio, as a heavenly pit-stop on our bus travel back to Athens.
Walk with me now as we pull into the orchard, climb off the bus, scamper past the goats, and revel in the glorious green, orange, blue, and gold of picking fruit in Greece! Oh, and keep your eyes out for some kittens…
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- The scent of orange blossoms swirled through the warm breeze, making us smile.
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- Look at the tiny people picking oranges! What must Zeus have thought as he gazed on?
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- We began to clasp the round fruit and pluck it.
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- Would you like to have that orchard house?
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- Goats clip-clopped in the hills around the orchard.
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- It’s a rainbow in plant form!
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- Straining hard to pick the fruit. Very difficult.
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- Triumph! I picked it! First of 15.
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- It looks like her ideas have turned into oranges.
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- T’was time to open the succulent, sun-fresh oranges.
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- Look how luscious this orange section is. Chomp!
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- Suddenly a soft little kitten appeared.
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- Famous writer, Sarah Ellis, befriended the kitten.
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- A second fluffy kitten appeared!
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- Look at the fierce cat lurking under the fruit trees.
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- Cat, meet orange. Orange, meet cat. You look great.
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- You’re not supposed to pick up stray animals, but…
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- Flaming flowers puckered kisses through the grass.
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- The freshest fruit that’s ever squirted on my tongue, with that blue, blue sky winking behind it.
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- We had so many oranges at the end, we had to donate them to the hotel workers in Athens!
And that was our delicious day in Nafplio, the most delightful town in Greece that we toured. Who would have thought that picking fruit would be a highlight of our Greece teacher tour? I’m now adding this as a budget travel secret: For an inexpensive and awesome day activity, find a farm or orchard to cavort around! Fresh air plus fresh fruit equals fantastic-ness.
The author, Lillie Marshall, is a 6-foot-tall National Board Certified Teacher of English, fitness fan, and mother of two who has been a public school educator since 2003. She launched Around the World “L” Travel and Life Blog in 2009, and over 4.2 million readers have now visited this site. Lillie also runs TeachingTraveling.com and DrawingsOf.com. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media!
Diarmuid Bolger
Friday 8th of March 2013
May i refer you to "orange picking in greece" on YouTube
Alessandra A
Tuesday 19th of June 2012
Awe the kittens are so adorable!! Why do you think they decided to come by? Maybe they smelled the oranges? Either way they are so cute. :)
Steven V.
Friday 15th of June 2012
I wonder if the oranges at Florida or there are better because at both places they have sunshine, hot weather, and people to pick them.
Koraliz C.
Thursday 7th of June 2012
I think that if I found a cat, I would take it home IMMEDIATELY! No second thoughts.
Raymond Wu
Thursday 17th of May 2012
I wonder if the oranges in Greece tasted any better than those in America. They looked very delicious and got me hungry.