Greek countryside

As the plane was landing, we flew over the ocean and could see some of the many islands.  The train ride in showed a drier countryside that Italy, but with plenty of agriculture - olive trees, vineyards, and many plants I couldn't identify.  There are irrigation systems for the fields, especially the cotton fields (one of Greece's major exports).  They also grow sugar beets, wheat, potatoes, onions, and of course grapes and olives (the 3rd largest producer behind Italy and Spain).

We had the opportunity to drive up into the mountains yesterday and got to see more of the countryside.  Beautiful rugged hills/mountains, blooming yellow broom plants all over, also lots of pink oleanders and red poppies.  I thought about my mother-in-law throughout the day because she loves wildflowers (and could probably identify more of them than I could).

The countryside is not nearly as populated as it is in Poland, although it is not wilderness either.   (From our tourguide we learned that the population is 11 million, and that almost 5 million live in the capital city of Athens. In 1830 Athens had only 5,000 people - so the city has struggled with extremely rapid growth issues!)  Some of the land is cultivated, but some is not.  Our guide indicated that the national forestland is protected, but that the law allows for development where there are no longer trees, thus a lot of arson occurs (some of which caused the devastating forest fires in 2007).  Not quite sure if I understood this law correctly...seems a bit unusual to me.

There were several solar collecter farmers outside Athens, but they were not that big. (Every apartment building in Athens also have solar hot water heaters).   There were also a number of large wind turbines up on the hills. There were usually 4-5 together, not the giants spread of 20+ that we see in Kansas (not enough room on the hills for more).  It was kind of funny to see them on hilltops, since in Kansas they are spread across the plains.

Each unit is presumably for one apartment.  Most buildings had 8-10 collectors on top.

The rocky hillsides have streaks of terracotta red and white.  The red indicates bauxite, which is mined in the mountains (open pit on the top of hillsides), and used in the Greek aluminium industry.  The white shades are often marble, which is famous worldwide.