In the village of Vouves, on the island of Crete, a 3,000-year-old olive tree keeps on giving.
The resilient elder, known as “the Olive Tree of Vouves” still bears fruit three millennia on.
Archaeologist and researcher Ticia Verveer shared a photo of the tree on Twitter saying: “(This tree) stood here when Rome burned in AD64, and Pompeii was buried under a thick carpet of volcanic ash in AD79.”
Each year, over 20,000 people visit the tree that has a trunk with a circumference of 12.5 meters (41 feet), and a diameter of 4.6 meters (15 feet).
The tree belongs to the tsounati variety and its grafting takes it up to three meters.
In 1990, after a unanimous decision in the prefecture of Chania, the Vouves Olive Tree was declared a Natural Monument of great importance due to its status as the world’s oldest tree of its kind even though it still produces high quality olives.
Its oil is considered the most expensive, pure and of high-health value in the world.
There is also a 3D model of the tree in the Olive Tree Museum of Vouves.
