Does your landscape change much if you travel an hour away from home?  

Hi indahfth, it sounds as if your landscape has changed due to being more built up and that you miss the rich sights of the rice fields and trees. This is very sad if it is happening but know too that it will happen here. Luckily they can't build on the sea or the side of the mountain but they can certainly chop plenty of olive trees down as the price of the land outweighs the return on the olives.

That is the price that we have to pay for the development. More building and less trees. And we all complaint about the pollution is everywhere. It is a very exclusive thing to breath the fresh air in a city. The only thing to breath is a polluted air.

air pollution could not have been more manageable. I, very sad, all this should not happen, if the trees are planted.

Hi indahfth, it seems that development will take over everywhere and the price of this is the loss of trees and nature. The olive groves here are gradually being sold off as building plots and we will wake one morning to find much of the natural beauty, representing a traditional way of life, sadly gone.

Hi Sandra, I've gone through Spain quite a lot of times, we used to drive through there when I was a child. My favourite place there ever was Pamplona, that's the sort of landscape that really sticks in the mind, a dusty hot village with the meat hanging outide the butcher's shop teeming with flies stuck at the top of a mountain with stunning views, and a frightening road with hair pin bends. If you go up there let me know if it's changed, it could be all modern now for all I know.

It's lovely to feel the landscape puts one on mind of different countries. I definitely prefer the sound of your place with the orange groves and mountains to the built up coastline of Benidorn, but for me the unspoilt fishing villages would definitely appeal most, I love the traditional aspect of those kind of villages. (I put a pic on my profile of my little fishing village).

Hi sandymay, I'd love the chance to drive along and see the landscape of the different towns, it's always a fascinating thing to do when first arriving in a foreign country. I hope that you have plenty of opportunities to go west into the mountains if you like to see nature, I love to see natural waterfalls and gorges can be quite stunning. I have to pass through a very dramatic gorge on my way up to town and most time the sun just seems to disappear as one drives through it.

Hi click, you certainly make it all sound a bit miserable, it brings back all the traffic jam memrories just thinking about your description, surrounded on all sides by more of the same.

Didn't mean to taunt you with my description, just trying to think if I actually have to drive past anything which is sceneically stultifying, no, I don't. If I go north and then veer off north west towards the coast there then there aren't as many olive trees, pine trees line the roads there which is a nice change, especially with the fresh smell of resin in the air.

hi scarlet_woman, it's so sad when all the landscape starts to disappear due to development and it can happen so quickly. Out here more and more olive groves are giving way to the development of new houses and I agree that new building permits shouldn't be issued now as there are so many houses which have just been built on spec in the last few years and now stand empty or part finished. But still everyone comes wanting to build there own dream place which means another olive grove disappears. At the moment there is one km between our two neighbouring villages but in another five years it will probably be filled with houses so the villages may end up losing their separate identities.

Hi akuler, reading that makes me realise how lucky I am to live in a relatively isolated spot surrounded by great beauty, even the town an hour away is a lovely place, except for the motorists. The towns there have very exotic sounding names but to only see buildings! Some people do prefer the fast pace of city life though and thrive in that environment. I think I'll stick with the quiet country life for now as one of my favourite things is the silence outside.

That is why I am thinking about return to my hometown. At least I can see a lot of trees. Even though it is mostly a palm oil trees. If I am lucky enough I still can see some orang utan. The air is also much much more fresher there then here.

Hi akula, urangatans, coolOur local wildlife is mainly confined to goats and donkeys, but I do love to see the donkeys working in the winter, ambling along the side of the road in the original way with bunches of olive branches on their backs and a couple of old folks walking by their sides. It is a disappearing sight as the new generation of olive owners access their lands with vans and don't use the donkey method anymore.

When its come to efficiency and costing, that is what everyone would do. The traditional ways of doing thing would be abandon. It is happen because all our ways is determined by money. We will do anything to get more money. All talk are money talk.

Thanks for the BR. I really appreciate it.

Stones and trees and bleakness Akuler, it sums up your landscape.

Hello Jo, I don't have a clear image in my mind of Tennessee though I'm sure there must be something which would spark one off, my own images of the different parts of the US are quite different in my mind, though I have never ventured over the Atlantic.

Here it is more than pretty, it is stunning, which is why so many people like to come, but certainly we are much more of a hidden secret than the much more famous Greek islands.

mAYBE SOME DAY U WILL GET TO VISIT. i AM PROUD OF WHERE I LIVE JUST AS U ARE. THAT'S THE WAY I THINK people should feel about their honeland. Have a good one.

Hello cher, if you live near Toronto is it still true that you can leave your doors unlocked up there? I read that it was safe enough, but maybe it was more of a country area. I haven't seen farmland for a long time.

Hi virusxtreme, another Californian, I had another discussion up today and I think that four Californians responsed to it. I presume that your mountains are quite rocky when you say the land is more barren. Here because the olive trees can grow in the peculiar of places the mountains are full of trees until we go deeper into the Mani. There are also lots of cave features higher in our mountains. It is always good to have sight of the ocean and be able to watch its moods change.

Hello sanelaze, I can feel your feeling for your country in your description which is very beautiful. I barely know anything about the Philipines except from fellow mylotters but you make me want to see it. Is the Walled City of Intramuros very ancient with its own history? It sounds as if you have treaures and beautiful scenery as we have here.