Olive trees and .... have never seen so many!

Greece is a wonderful country full of richness and fruit of every description. We have seen olive trees (forests) everywhere we went. We have also seen oranges, figs, plums, pears, apples, peaches, apricots, grapes (of course) and yesterday bananas... I expected a lot of fruit trees but not ....

greenhouses!

The country is warm most of the year so why the towns of greenhouses? The growing season here is most likely two or even three crops per year. I was amazed at how many greenhouses there are in many places in Greece from north to south...literally greenhouse landscape the size of fairly large towns. Actually larger than some towns here...

 

But then there are always the olive groves...nicely laid out against the harshest of landscapes... this is Greece!

 

The heart and soul of greece

If the olive tree is the heart of the greek countryside the small village church is its soul! These marvelous little churches are well taken care of and well used. They represent the soulful people who inhabit these regions and their strength of character even in hard times!

 

On the Road to...food

The road system here in Greece is great and the roads are pretty good too! There are so many road signs (most times quite necessary) that every few meters there is another sign (usually telling the driver of a bend in the road). It would be a booming business opportunity printing signs.

This sign tells us that not only is there a hairpin turn going down hill but there is a narrow bridge at the bottom!! YAY!
But the drive is wonderful on good roads with fantastic sea views and friendly people to help along the way!

The Kalamata country side is covered with olive trees, with a smattering of Cyprus groves and now a few fig groves thrown in for good measure. This country is just bursting with fruit of all kinds. The side of the road in many places is lined with cactus which is heavy with fruit (cactus pears) almost ready to pick. No one should go hungry here!
We look forward to buying some olive oil  to bring home and some big juicy olives to eat along the way.
We already picked up some beautiful crusty bread, some zesty cheese and some cold meat for a nice lunch on some deserted beach!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamata
Food grows wild here! It amazes me how much food is growing by the side of any road. Grapes, olives, pears, cactus, apples, persimmon,pomagranite, and oranges...the list seems endless!