# Mini-trip



## despoinaki

Hello guys! Yesterday we went for a day trip to a village, 50 miles away from Thessaloniki, where my father owns a piece of land. We went for some gardening work (I am so tired!) and I took the chance to get some pics! 
So here you can see mount Olympus

A closer look to mount Olympus

The sea from the other side and small city of Makrigyalos 

This bush is called "Fotinia" 

Then I saw this little butterfly 

Olive trees and a tall fig tree

Cloudy skies

And I got this pic before leaving. You can see the village and the weather that got worse.

Hope you enjoyed it!


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## Budget baby

AWH wow it is like I have gone on a holiday , I love your pictures.
I have a Fotinia bush in my garden , olives grow well here as well.
Thanks for sharing, I hope your tired and aching muscles recover soon


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## despoinaki

Pretty boy said:


> AWH wow it is like I have gone on a holiday , I love your pictures.
> I have a Fotinia bush in my garden , olives grow well here as well.
> Thanks for sharing, I hope your tired and aching muscles recover soon


Thank you Cathy!  I love spring and nature is great this time of year  But yeah, all this digging made my back and arms hurt a lot!  glad you liked the pics!


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## dsavino

Lovely! I love your pics! Its like taking a mini-vacation!! Thanks so much for sharing!!  I feel refreshed now!!


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## aluz

Great pics and what a treat to see the famous Mount Olympus!! 
It's always good to go back to our roots, I'm a landowner in training too. The land belongs to my grandmother on my mother's side, but now my parents are the ones who manage it, we have our own cork trees and take the cork out of them for selling purposes. Portugal is in the top when it comes to cork exportation and olives too, Portuguese cork is the best in the world.
One day I will inherit the land and the business, for now I will keep on watching and learning how it's done.


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## nuxi

Despina,great photos! Thanks for sharing! I hope you feel better soon!:hug:


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## FaeryBee

*I always love the vacations you treat me to, Despina!
Through your pictures, I get to experience areas I would never see otherwise and they are always lovely. Thank you! :hug:*


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## despoinaki

dsavino said:


> Lovely! I love your pics! Its like taking a mini-vacation!! Thanks so much for sharing!!  I feel refreshed now!!


Thank you Diane!  I am glad that I became able to spread the feeling through my pics! I felt relaxed too! 



aluz said:


> Great pics and what a treat to see the famous Mount Olympus!!
> It's always good to go back to our roots, I'm a landowner in training too. The land belongs to my grandmother on my mother's side, but now my parents are the ones who manage it, we have our own cork trees and take the cork out of them for selling purposes. Portugal is in the top when it comes to cork exportation and olives too, Portuguese cork is the best in the world.
> One day I will inherit the land and the business, for now I will keep on watching and learning how it's done.


Thanks Ana! This is the famous and mythological mountain and the highest in Greece  That's very interesting, you know! I've always wondered where the cork is coming from! And I think you'll do a great job one day.. Working in the fields is a tiring job but the results are very rewarding!



nuxi said:


> Despina,great photos! Thanks for sharing! I hope you feel better soon!:hug:


Thank you Gaby! I am glad you liked them! Yes, I hope my arms will stop aching for a bit! 



FaeryBee said:


> *I always love the vacations you treat me to, Despina!
> Through your pictures, I get to experience areas I would never see otherwise and they are always lovely. Thank you! :hug:*


Thank you miss Faery Bee! I am glad you like them and the chance I have to take you there, through my pics!


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## LynandIndigo

Lovely photos Despina. They are always very interesting. One day maybe I'll visit there...


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## despoinaki

LynandIndigo said:


> Lovely photos Despina. They are always very interesting. One day maybe I'll visit there...


Thank you Lyn! I hope you come one day and see all this!  Bring little Indi with you too


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## StarlingWings

Wow, Despina, those are some gorgeous photos! 
I would so love to visit Greece, and those pictures of Mount Olympus actually gave me chills  
Looks so lovely, you live in a beautiful place for sure 
Thank you so much for sharing, it was like I went there myself :laugh:


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## PrincipePio

Thank you for sharing, Despina! It sounds like you had a great trip and got a lot of work done. That fig tree is absolutely huge! We have one in my mother-in-law's garden in her village, but it's nowhere near that big.


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## despoinaki

StarlingWings said:


> Wow, Despina, those are some gorgeous photos!
> I would so love to visit Greece, and those pictures of Mount Olympus actually gave me chills
> Looks so lovely, you live in a beautiful place for sure
> Thank you so much for sharing, it was like I went there myself :laugh:


Thank you StarlingWings!  I live in Thessaloniki (50 miles north) but we can also see the mountain from here! Anyone can see it, as long as he/she lives in Northern Greece  I am glad you liked the pics and you are welcome to see them in person one day! 



PrincipePio said:


> Thank you for sharing, Despina! It sounds like you had a great trip and got a lot of work done. That fig tree is absolutely huge! We have one in my mother-in-law's garden in her village, but it's nowhere near that big.


Thanks my friend! It was really nice and we did a lot.. You're right, I have to climb on that fig tree in order to get some figs! A whole adventure!  Most of the fig trees we have here are like that!


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## Jedikeet

Your scenic photos always 'take my breath away' :hug:


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## despoinaki

Jedikeet said:


> Your scenic photos always 'take my breath away' :hug:


Really I took your breath away Mr Maverick?  If that so, thank you! You should see all this in person..!


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## MidnightIris

Gorgeous


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## Brienne

Lovely photos...thanks for sharing...we have a Fotinia, too


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## Kate C

Beautiful pictures Despina. My neighbours have a Fotinia hedge out front so with a couple of pictures I could have mistaken them for parts of Australia. I have an olive tree myself and I would love a fig tree, there are some around me and I just love figs.


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## Owlet

Lovely photo's


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## despoinaki

MidnightIris said:


> Gorgeous


Thank you Bee! 



Brienne said:


> Lovely photos...thanks for sharing...we have a Fotinia, too


Thank you Brienne! I love taking natural photos- I am glad you enjoyed them!



Kate C said:


> Beautiful pictures Despina. My neighbours have a Fotinia hedge out front so with a couple of pictures I could have mistaken them for parts of Australia. I have an olive tree myself and I would love a fig tree, there are some around me and I just love figs.


Thank you Kate! Really this place looks like Australia?  You know everyone else in my family loves figs but not me! They make me feel sick, so I collect figs for them! We have 5 trees- I think.



Owlet said:


> Lovely photo's


Thanks so much Elsabe!


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## Kate C

Yeah Despina, the first three pictures particularly can be mistaken for some parts of Australia, not the inland areas of course but parts of the coastal areas. We have a lot of Greek, Maltese and Italian migrants that came out here and they brought their culture here as well. We grow lots of Olives here in Australia and have a thriving industry of olive oil production. We also have lots of figs grown here. I am in a semi rural area and there are many Italian and Maltese people who came here and have farms. We also have a very large wine industry and produce world quality wines. The wine industry started in the early to mid 1800's when many people from Germany immigrated. One set of my Great Great Grandparents among them.


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## Jonah

What wonderful picture's. Some absolutely beautiful sight's, thank you for sharing....


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## despoinaki

Kate C said:


> Yeah Despina, the first three pictures particularly can be mistaken for some parts of Australia, not the inland areas of course but parts of the coastal areas. We have a lot of Greek, Maltese and Italian migrants that came out here and they brought their culture here as well. We grow lots of Olives here in Australia and have a thriving industry of olive oil production. We also have lots of figs grown here. I am in a semi rural area and there are many Italian and Maltese people who came here and have farms. We also have a very large wine industry and produce world quality wines. The wine industry started in the early to mid 1800's when many people from Germany immigrated. One set of my Great Great Grandparents among them.


Oh wow! Now I know I would see the same things there! Really are they so many mediterranean people there? I knew there are a lot of greeks there, but I see they brought everything they learned there!  I used to have some wine lessons and the teachers said there is a big industry in Australia! Wine is something I love and I would definitely do it as a profession, if I had the resources!  Germans here have a significant wine, the Eiswine. I tasted it, it's very sweet and the grapes are harvested and pressed in the frozen state.That makes alcohol and sweetness of it, reach higher levels 



Jonah said:


> What wonderful picture's. Some absolutely beautiful sight's, thank you for sharing....


Thank you Randy! It's a very relaxing place and I would surely share it with you!  I'll go again sometime, so I'll be posting more soon


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## Kate C

Despina we have a number of wine growing areas, the main two are the Barossa Valley in South Australia and the Hunter Valley in New South Wales which is not far from me. The Barossa was settled mainly by German immigrants as was the Hunter where many of my relatives settled. Western Australia has a flourishing wine industry mainly around the Margaret River area where they also make some great cheeses. There are also good wine growing areas in Victoria and some cold weather wine growing in Tasmania and around the Canberra area of NSW.

One of our most famous wines in Australia is Grange Hermitage made by Penfolds. The first Vintage was started in 1951 and first released in 1952. One bottle of the 1951 vintage sold in 2004 for $50,000. Grange Hermitage has won more than 50 gold medals at Australian and International wine shows including the Wine Olympics in Paris. A complete collection of Grange from 1951 onwards was put up for sale in Dubai in 2014 with a price tag of $660,000 Australian dollars.

Many of our wineries have entered competitions overseas and many have done very well.

We do have quite a history of wine making even for such a young country as we are. Grapes were grown near me in the early days of the colony and the neighbouring suburb was named Vineyard because of the grape growing there. There was also a small winery who grew their own grapes less than 1km from me. Many of the older Mediterranean immigrants grow and make their own wine still as they did in their homeland. Much of the migration to Australia from the Mediterranean area was just after the Second World War and the 1950's and 60's and with them of course they brought out their traditions. Australia then benefited from their food and made us truly cosmopolitan in our tastes.


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## despoinaki

And that's now the history of a place is written... people who came from different sites in the world, they do the same things wherever they go and they become recognisable. I know if I left Greece right now and have resources, I would do the same things as here. Have my own garden, make my own wine and tsipouro(a drink like vodka) and carry with me all the traditions I've been taught since I was a child. 
I am glad all these people in Australia do the things they love and their products have a major acceptance. 
Here wine production is one of the oldest in the world, almost 6,500 years ago people started drinking wine. And is produced in several places, from high places in the greek mountains to Aegean islands. And the flavour is always different and unique


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## Kate C

And the Greeks exported their wine all over the known world. Many amphora's that would have contained wine have been found in shipwrecks from ancient times. They know they contained wine because of the shape of the amphora's.

I think it is great that Australia has benefited from the traditions of the people who have come and settled here.

I know what you mean about the differences with the flavour of the wines depending on where they are grown. In our Hunter Valley up high we have volcanic soil, but down on the river flats there is the rich flood soil and the flavour of the wines produced in such a small area can be so different.

I am wondering if your tsipouro is similar to the Italian Grappa that some of the Italian families make here? Boy is that potent.


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## despoinaki

Yes!!! There are two types of Tsipouro here, the one flavoured with Anise (just like Ouzo) and the one that is not. The one that is not flavoured with Anise, we call it Grappa!  
One more reason we are so similar with the Italians and they call us in Italian "Una faccia, una razza" meaning "One face, one race"


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