Today I want to break the pattern of winterish posts and life updates and travel on the other side of my island, on a rainy spring day.
Those pictures are from my visit to the botanical park of Crete and it is the undeniable proof that practically everything grows here :)
Apart the great variety of Mediterranean trees and herbs that I was expecting to see, as well as some endemic plants of Crete, there are also many tropical and subtropical plants that look so exotic and out of place!
The interesting part is that the whole project of the garden started with an unfortunate and very destructive fire, to evolve to a wonderful diverse ecosystem.
In the picture above there is a tree Tobacco. Native to Bolivia and Argentina. And below golden lotus banana, also known as Chinese dwarf banana. We are in Greece, remember?
And the list goes on. Ambarella tropical plum, avocado, tamarillo and so many more. It is amazing how plants from all over the world coexist so harmonically side by side :)
The owner of the park and mastermind of the gardens Mr Petros Marinakis, was kind enough to give me a full tour a tell me about the idea behind the project. I will quote below some of his own words.
However weird it may seem, this journey began with a devastating fire back in 2003. The fire burnt down massive areas of land in my place of origin, Skordalou, leaving only ashes behind. The impact of the economic and ecological destruction on the village was tremendous. Approximately a hundred thousand “tsounati” olive trees, aged over 400 years, were annihilated.
The fire burnt down our own olive groves, too. Looking at the scorched land, my only thought was to regrow our trees and flowers , to bring life back to our land. My sorrow for the sudden environmental catastrophe was beyond words. Equally devastating for me was that all this occurred at a time when humans have distanced themselves from nature. For any person who grew up surrounded by nature like me, it is despairing to realise that the modern urban lifestyle and the quick pace of life have distracted many of us who live in the captivity of grey cities. It is also sad to see that several children cannot identify major trees, haven’t seen the trees bear fruits or haven’t experienced the freedom of nature.
All these thoughts gave birth to the idea of the Gardens.
source
Beautiful story, isn't it?
The are still a few trunks of the burned olive trees to remind the visitors how it all started!
And of course a pond and a few animals, to complete the scenery!
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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