Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

18 HOME LIFE IN HELLASKalamata has an advantage over Sparta inthatit is in direct railway communication with Athens,although farther away as the crow flies. TheSpartan must send his produce to the littleof Gythion toportbe carried by sea to Pirams, or toTripolitza and thence by rail to the capital ; butTripolitza is a long way off, and in both casesthe land transport is slow and expensive. Abranch line from Tripolitza is sorely needed.It is not easy to convey in words a notion ofwhat the Peloponnesus looks like. In an areaof such unequal relief the aspect naturally variesgreatly, though one is never out of sight of mountains.The country west of the great central rangeis much more wooded than the region east of it,though Sparta is far from being treeless. Thebarest regions are the high plateaus of Mantinaeaand Megalopolis and the tobacco-growing plain ofArgos, though the latter is relieved by frequentorange and lemon orchards ; and whilst the uplandsof Arcadia are generally speaking nude, theheaviest timber grows in the valleys leading tothem. The plane, the oak, and the fir are thechief timber trees.Conspicuous inthe Vale of Sparta are the tallpoplars rising above the expanse of mulberrytrees. The Eurotas, a clear stream, flows betweenbanks fringed with oleanders. The dominant noteof colour is rich green, relieved in winter by thegold of the orange groves, and in spring by theirsilver blossoms and the wax-like scarlet petals of