The report from the visit to Greece!

REPORT of the visit to Crete - Greece

This is the report of the Comenius project named ‘Europe in a museum’. The first meeting was held in our coordinator country Greece-Crete from 4^th November till 8^th November.

4^th November 2013 Monday

Turkey,Poland,Bulgaria partners met at the hotel lobby in the morning and were welcomed  by Maria. We next departured to the 2^nd Arhanes Primary School. There we were welcomed by students and teachers who were so lovely. Had a chat with them and visited some classes.

Next we went to Centre of Enviromental Education with the students on foot. There it was a place where schools come and do environmental and ecological activities. There we had an opportunity to make Greek dishes such as Minoan soup and Dakos.  We aslo made our own spicy olive oil bottles  and played games which were  great activities.

After that  we walked around the village of Archanes  and discovered the buildings ,the streets  and the nature. As it started to rain Olympia took us to an exllibris art gallery where there were precious works of engraved art. Eva and her husband, the owners of the gallery, offered us some drinks and they welcomed us very hospitably.

We then left Archanes and met the Italians and Lituanians at the airport and went back to the hotel.

5^th November 2013 Tuesday

On the second day we met Olympia at the hotel lobby. She gave us information about what we were going to do and had a small discussion about the project.

Next we visited a wine factory and watched a video of how the wine is produced. Then we visited the mayor in the town hall in Peza. Anna from Poland; Fatma,Berke and Metehan from Turkey made an interview with the Crete Press.

After leaving the mayor we went to visit the museum of Nikos Kazantzakis. There we watched a video about his life which was admiring and had a look at the books, personal items and photos of the great author.

Then we moved on to school where the students and parents made us lots of suprises. We had the opportunity to taste  delicious Greek dishes. Greek students showed us their traditional folk dances, played instruments and sang songs which was a great memory for us and the Turkish students.

That was the end of the day and went back to the hotel.

6^th November  2013 Wednesday

The third day we had a 20 min walk to the Archaeological site of Fourni, the Minoan cemetery. T here we saw Minoans tombs that were  used for over one thousand years and also Olympia gave us a great explanation of the cemetery.

Then we set off to the archaeological museum of Archanes which was first opened in 1993 and contains findings from the excavations and findings from the Minoan burral ground, clay vases, ivory objects and fragments.

Next we had a visit to the archaeological site of Vathipetro, the Minoan wine press. We admired the Minoan villa which included central and western courtyards.  In the south wing a grape pressing installation was discovered while oil press was founded in the courtyard.

The next place to visit was the traditional museum of Acrhanes where there were traditional handcrafts and items. There we had a meeting of the project and worked on the visit dates to other partner countries and parent/student evaluations.

Before the visit to the raki distillation we had a visit to the monastery Agkarathos. When we arrived there there was a rite and it was  an interesting memory for the Tukish students. After a short time spent there we were offered some sweets and glass of juice.

The last point of the excursion was the visit at the raki distillation spot. Nectaria and the teachers welcomed us very kindly. They had made lots of Greek dishes  and we all danced through the night. It was an unforgetable evening for everybody.

7^th November 2013 Thursday

The fourth day Olympia organized a trip to Retymno and Chania. In Retymno we saw the town, its streets and old fashioned sweet buildings. There we had free time to walk around the village and buy souvenirs for our friends and parents. And had lunch in a tavern.

Next we went to Chania. We walked around the municipal market full of local products and had a look at the marina in the old harbour.

Lastly we came back to the hotel and had a rest for the last day in Crete.

8^th November 2013 Friday

The last day of our visit was spent in Knossos, an  archaelogical site in Crete. The last museum in the tour was the Heraklion Archeological museum. There we could see the Minoan collections and items.

Lastly we had a farewell dinner which was our last hours in Crete.