24 August 2008: Bucharest

Out second day in the Romanian capital was dedicated to motorcycles! The motorcyclists of the Olive Tree Routes accepted the invitation of Romanians to a national motorcycle meeting in a suburb of the capital.

Around afternoon the travelers of the Olive Tree Routes, with or without a motorcycle, headed to the Romanian capital to stroll around and get a better idea of the place.

 22 & 23 August 2008: Odessa – Bucharest

A few days before the 10th Itinerary came to its end with our return to Greece, we headed to Bucharest, the beautiful Romanian capital. Our first stop in the country gave us a good taste of Europe when we paid in euro for our coffee and soup in a nice café with English speaking staff! We stayed in Casa Alba, a scenic camping site with colorful wooden houses on trees, only a few kilometers from city center.

The same afternoon the olive tree travelers were invited to the Greek Embassy to attend the presentation of the initiative “The Routes of the Olive Tree” and the artistic and pedagogical work produced during the 10th Itinerary to visitors and guests. Two Cooperation Protocols were signed on the occasion, one with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bucharest and one with the University of Bucharest, with the perspective of a long and fruitful cooperation with these two institutions that are active in this country, new member of the European family but dynamic and with important presence in the development procedure.

21 August 2008: Odessa

A new cycle of meetings had been organized and realized in Odessa. Apart from the meeting with local delegates, extreme importance was given to meetings with representatives of the local Greek community that has still active presence in the city. The strong bonds between Odessa and Greece date back to the foundation of the city and played an essential role during the Independence War on Greece against the Turks, offering great support.

The participants in the Journey were invited by the Greek Ambassador to Odessa’s historical center in order to visit important Greek monuments such as the famous orthodox church of St. Trinity. The ambassador accompanied their guests during the visit as an excellent host and did his best to reinforce bonds and common heritage.

The same afternoon a cultural event similar to that in Kiev two days before took place at a beautiful square named “Square of Greeks”. Once more the Exhibition “The Routes of the Olive Tree, routes of intercultural dialogue” was presented, along with the work of Heike Κummer, the workshop of artistic painting around the olive tree and tasting of traditional Greek products that impressed visitors as well as local and national press that covered the event comprehensively.

20 August 2008: Kiev – Odessa

After Kiev we traveled all day to another big and important Ukrainian city, Odessa.

We stayed in two different hotels in the city’s historical center and had the chance to discover a charming city with beautiful pedestrian streets, old buildings of unique architecture that revealed a glorious past and the warm atmosphere of numerous outdoor cafes and restaurants. It was a breath of fresh air after the hundreds of kilometers we had covered until this point. 

17 & 18 August 2008: Moscow – Kiev

It was one of the longest days of the Journey spent on the road… we had to cover approximately 800 kilometers and cross the borders between Russia-Ukraine, so it was impossible to reach Kiev that same night. From one side, we lost time waiting at Russian and Ukrainian borders for bureaucratic procedures and from the other side the road works on the National Highway to the Ukrainian capital made us modify our itinerary and spend the night in the city Ghlukhiv. We finally spotted the camping area reserved for us the by the Greek Embassy and put up our tents late at night. The place reminded of a hide-out, surrounded by trees and right under the police station of Ghlukhiv, where we slept under our wakeful guards!

Next morning we were back on the road to Kiev, where the Greek Embassy had reserved us accommodation in a boarding house for deaf and mute children, which opened its doors during holidays for us. The thoughtful principal welcomed us in person and accompanied first the women of the delegation to the second floor and then the men to the first floor, where we found simple but clean and tidy rooms. Another pleasant surprise was the delicious dinner at the restaurant of the Boarding House, on an initiative of the Greek Embassy and in the company of the Embassy’s personnel, representatives of the Greek community and the staff of the Boarding House. 

During dinner the delegation chief Giorgos Karampatos and members of the Journey’s Organizing Committee, such as Giorgos Petsotas, thanked our hosts for the wonderful reception and the travelers who participated in this challenging endeavour with the aspiration to convey the messages and values of the olive tree…

13-16 August 2008: Moscow

Finally we arrive to Moscow, one of the most important stops of the Journey!

We settle in a green suburb of the Russian capital; during our three-day stop several meetings had been programmed between local authorities and our delegation under Mr. G. Karampatos, Executive Director of the Cultural Foundation “The Olive Tree Routes” and President of the Messinian Chamber. At the same time, many of us saw this as an ideal opportunity to get some rest and know the city.

We arrived to Moscow at a different day than planned, so some of the events for our welcome had to be cancelled. However, many work meetings took place among the Messinian Chamber, the Cultural Foundation “The Routes of the Olive Tree”, the District & Municipality of Moscow, the Chamber of Moscow and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. The Routes of the Olive Tree received a warm welcome from the above institutions and the suggested future events in Moscow were considered positively. Both sides expressed interest for promoting intercultural dialogue between Greece and Russia based on the friendly relations that have always united our countries.

Along with these work meetings, the participants in the Journey had the opportunity to see the Russian capital during a specialized guided tour around the city’s history.

The cinematic team Cinegram that had been following the Journey since the beginning profited from our stop to take interviews from many participants, with the Red Square in the background…

Before we set off to Moscow we were happy to see our delegation’s truck arrive after a short delay at the Russian borders due to bureaucracy reasons; the problem was overcome with the intervention of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Russian Ministry of Transportation.

20/8/2008 – The Routes of the Olive Tree in Moscow

The Routes of the Olive Tree has arrived in Moscow, which is one our main stopping point of our trip this year.

During our three days stop in the russian capital city (from 15th to 18th august 2008), we managed to meet all of the representives of the local organisms,that aim at organising cultural events in order to promote the greek culture as well as the symbol of the olive tree to the russian audience. The delegation constituted by members and partners of the Routes of the Olive Tree, specialists in the olive tree growing  culture,representants of the Messinian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, journalists, etc., leaded by M.Georgios Karambatos, cumulating the functions of President of the Messinian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive chief of the “Routes of the Olive Tree” cultural foundation, has realised many professional conferences together with the authorities of the region and city council in Moscow, the Agricultural Ministry and the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The delegation had proceeded to a deep collaboration with the authorities of the Moscow area – especially with the Director of the Foreign and International Affairs Department, M. P. Kuprikov, and the director of Foreign Economic Affairs Coordination Department, M. V. Nikolaev – on that occasion, it has been officially declared that the Routes of the Olive Tree’s initiatives are under aegis of the region and city of Moscow : “The Routes of the Olive Tree, has gained the russian audience’s sympathy, as well as the culture of the olive tree in general,everything is ready for this audience to integrate those unique presents coming from the greek culture, that olive products. We are very impressed by the energy you put with yourself to come and meet us, the symbolism and the dynamism of your initiative has to attract the attention,and all we can do is to welcome you  and express our willingness to collaborate with you in the future.”
It has been decided that for the first stage of this collaboration, we will have to organise a olive tree party as well as a entreprenors forum in Moscow, working with the city council authorities, as well as the creation of a centre of degustation and the realisation of olive products and other traditional greek products of high quality. This decision has been followed by a serie of meeting – dedicated to the same topic – with the Agriculture Ministry, that supports the initiative as well and is ready to bring its contribution in order to guaranty its success.
A huge importance has also been given to the meeting between M.Georgio Karambatos and its team with the general director and clerks in the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry. On that occasion, the modalities of a more important collaboration have been officialy declared and negociated, in order to reinforce the commercial relationships between the members of the two chambers and better represent the greek entreprenors on the russian market.

The President of the Messinian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also met more and bigger russian travel agences, to offer Messinia as a touristic destination, from which he has listed all the comparative advantages, guaranting that the Chamber will do its best to promote this project.

The Press Office

12 August 2008: Kazan – Nizhniy Novgorod

Before getting back on the road, we stopped a little in the sunny city centre of Kazhan, an important stopping point of our route, since it is the historic city of the Tatar kingdom. Its Kremlin is registered in the UNESCO Worldwide heritage.

We then stopped for the night in a small restaurant, where the participants gathered together around a dinner, that became a very convivial evening.

11 August 2008: Ufa – Kazan

We stopped for the night ourside of the city of Kazan. After having slept in a greek gymnasium,a public square in Georgia, the turkmenistan border, and a parking in Kazakhstan, a new unexpected place was waiting for us in a highway’s petrol station!

10 August 2008: Chelyabinsk – Ufa

Another stopping point in our long route towards Moscow… The Routes of the Olive Tree have reached Ufa today.A simple stop in our trip,we slept in a hotel nearby the airport.

We went through the Ural mountain during the day… we’re now riding away from the Silk Road, towards the ones of the european continent.