Passeite - Galega

Over 30 years ago, Marjolijn (Dutch) and João (Portuguese) Passos opened a beach restaurant “2Passos” on the beach of Ancão in the Algarve, Portugal. Marjolijn and João are retired, but the food business is still in their and our blood. To get back to João's roots, the couple converted an old watermill ruin into a holiday home. Some of the old details were left in their original state, such as the mills, which are located in the living room and still work. The house also included some land, and after some discussions with locals about the use of the land, the Passos family decided to plant an olive grove in 2001.

The area and the climate are ideal for growing olive trees. The area around Coimbra is one of the oldest olive oil regions and was already producing olive oil in Roman times. Conímbriga is one of the largest and best-preserved Roman settlements in Portugal. Conímbriga is only a short walk from our farm.

In 2005 the grove started to produce olives. From 2015, with the help of the new Passos generation, the hobby became a business. Guilherme, the son of Marjolijn and João, and his wife Marije are passionate about the olive grove and asked friends and relatives to help with the olive harvest. The love for this hobby was so strong that Marije and Gui moved to the farm and gave up their careers in the Netherlands to dedicate themselves to producing high-quality olive oil and teaching everything about it.