When I spent a week in Greece a couple of weeks ago, my eyes and camera were in for a treat. Since it was mid-spring, flowers were blooming everywhere. Out of them all, I was most drawn to roses, and I was extremely pleased to see roses in a variety of colors while I was there.
Roses are my favorite flowers, and feeling their familiar scent as I walked by on the streets and passed by houses in Greece brought my childhood memories back. Growing up in Kathmandu, I always adored seeing flowers that many houses seemed to have in their gardens, but sadly it’s becoming a rarity now.
There are about a hundred species of roses and some of them are native to Europe. Rosa gallica is native to southern and central Europe.
In March when I was in Bulgaria, which is one of the major rose producing countries in the world, I was disappointed in not being able to plan my travels around the rose festival that occurs in rose valley. But I didn’t know that my relaxing week in Greece would provide me with such opportunity to enjoy and photograph the roses.
One of the many things that I really love about Greece is the ubiquity of colorful flowers. When I visited Crete a few years ago, I was just as delighted by the many flowers on the island.
The owner of the airbnb I stayed in, a nice Greek lady, told me that she was proud of the roses in her garden. I can imagine it not being too easy to grow and tend to these flowers due to the shrubs and thorns presenting a challenge in doing so.
- My Greek host’s garden roses
I loved coming across all the colors, but the one that stole the show for me was this color:
I think it might be because I’ve seen orange roses (not on a bouquet!) so few times in my life that it made me very happy to see one, brightening up its surroundings.
If you love roses like I do, then may I recommend watching this fascinating video of a rose blooming:
//Is growing roses popular where you live? What color of roses do you like the most? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂
Stories from Europe 
beautiful pics!
Thank you! 🙂
Beautiful roses. And Pooja, you are an avid traveler. Post many more of such precious ones
Thank you for encouragement! 🙂
You are welcome Pooja
Pretty!
Aren’t they 🙂
Good morning, Pooja. I can remember Kathmandu in the old days, with many more flowers, but now concrete and bricks have replaced the flowers. So sad that it was allowed to happen. My favourite flower is bougainvillea and we have them outside the house in Kathmandu. It’s a great blog, Pooja. Best wishes from Dai
Good morning Dai. Kathmandu used to be so much better just few decades ago. I love bougainvillea too! Used to be many in Kathmandu back in the days. Thanks Dai, I hope you’re enjoying the mid-spring over there in Lisbon.
Hi Pooja. We had 29c yesterday but this afternoon is freezing, with only 21c
Lovely post for flower lovers 🙂 I didn’t know all that about Bulgaria. Roses are so pretty – even when they’ve dried!
Yes, roses are the absolute best! I don’t see them that often here in Poland so I was stoked while in Greece to come across so many of them 🙂
I’ve been really enjoying your posts on flowers, Pooja. When I was a kid, we used to have a small rose shrub at our backyard. It was small, but I remember my penchant for that flower thanks to its fragrance. After all, rose is what my mom was named after (although her favorite flower is in fact jasmine).
Thank you, Bama. Yes it was the fragrance too that took me back to my childhood, while in Greece. Wow I think it’s lovely that your mother was named after rose – what is the word for rose in your mother tongue? Is it bahasa Indonesia that you speak?
Yes, our national language is Bahasa Indonesia, or as some people simply call it Bahasa. In Bahasa rose is mawar, but my mom’s name has two roses: one in Bahasa and another in Dutch (roos).
That is so cool! 🙂
They have tons of different-colored roses planted in the parks here. They are so pretty! Great photos 😀
Oh that is so cool! 😀 must be nice for you to have a change for warmer climate after Poland!
I haven’t been to the wonderful Greece yet but I’ve read a lot about the famous place called Meteora and it seems like a worth visiting country, Pooja. The roses are truly mesmerizing!
I think Greece is 100% worth visiting! I hope you make it there someday. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
While I tend to prefer wild flowers to cultivated ones, I find roses beguiling, too, their different colors and many petals, and their sweet fragrance. Sadly, many cultivars have lost the original scent. Thank you for sharing your beautiful floral impression of your trip to Greece, Pooja.
I think I’ve never come across wild roses, Tanja! That piqued my curiosity now. Do you have them where you live?
Hi Pooja,
We have different kinds of wild roses in Colorado and see and smell (!) them regularly on our hikes. The ones in our garden are not the wild, but the cultivated kind.
Flowery greetings,
Tanja 🌹
Pooja, what is the weather like, are you really going to get rain and thunder all weekend like my app says? Our trip is approaching 🙂
In Greece? I was there at the beginning of May, so a month ago 🙂 Or you’re asking about Poland? In Poland, it’s been great actually. There were some days of rainfall (like all day, tropical monsoon-like) rain, but those were far fewer than the sunny, pleasant ones. Also it might depend on what part of Poland you’re going to, until here in Lodz, it’s been great overall, including today. I hope you’ll catch luck with the weather and have an enjoyable trip ! 🙂
Krakow, yes! Lets hope…! Thanks ☀️☀️☀️
Is there any connection between Nepali women and beautiful roses? My mother is Nepali and she is an anthophile ( of course rose is her favorite) :p
I doubt that the preference for roses is specific to Nepali women 😀
My impotent activity of understanding women never surprizes me! 😀
Beautiful photos
Thank you! 🙂