Scottish Comenius Visit to Greece

Comenius trip to Greece – Sunday

We had an uneventful journey yesterday, and booked into our hotel at about 11.30p.m. (Greece is 2 hours ahead of Scotland). We actually only had to go onto the roof terrace of our hotel to marvel at the mighty Acropolis Hill and the Parthenon.  It was a fantastic view, especially as the buildings are well flood-lit.

We set out this morning (reasonably) early, and started our planned sightseeing.

We did an bus open-top tour of Athens first of all, as this is a good way to see the city when you have a limited amount of time.  We visited Syntagma Sqare - syntagma is Greek for “constitution”, so it is not surprising that this is the location of the Greek Parliament.  We were treated to a marching brass band, and what seemed to be a day of significance, as marching behind the band were people in national Greek costumes, and also representatives of the armed forces.  We will have to ask tomorrow what it was all about!  (Later on in the day we also witnessed road blocks with armed police, and outriders escorting big black cars somewhere.  Curiouser and curiouser!

Lunch was outside the Museum of the Acropolis, and here are the sunny and happy girls showing off their new sun bonnets:

We did some souvenir shopping in the Plaka district before going round the Acropolis Museum, a spectacular space which has a top floor looking directly over the Acropolis, and also replicates exactly the Parthenon, including the gaps caused by the lack of the Elgin Marbles….

We managed to catch the changing of the guard at the Parliament…..

…..  and after a lovely evening meal, we headed back to the hotel, exhausted!

I forgot to mention, we were all browning nicely, as it was gorgeously sunny and hot! 

Tomorrow sees us heading out to the Larisis station to meet up with our European partners, and there – hopefully – will be our hosts from Volos, who are picking us all up in a big bus.   On the way to Volos tomorrow, we will be doing some more sightseeing, and will arrive there about 7 in the evening.

Till then…..

 Αντίο! (Greek for Goodbye!)

Comenius trip to Greece – Monday

Today was the day for meeting old friends and new.  I had met most of the teachers – and some of the students – before, and Miss Velt remembers Anna (the Latvian teacher) from when she visited Gairloch in 2012.

We all waited at the railway station for the bus to arrive from Volos, and then the greetings started all over again, as some of the host pupils from Volos were on the bus.

We set out on the long journey to Volos, which would take 4 hours.  However, we stopped a few times to visit places of interest, and also to have a meal. 

We had a beautiful lunch in coastal town called Konstantinos.  Here is a picture of the girls in the open air restaurant on the beach:

The restaurant, apart from giving us a lovely meal, also had a stray dog and its pup wandering about.  If I had had a bigger handbag, I might have been coming home with that pup……

After lunch, we headed further up the coast to the place which is best known in Greece for its battlefield – Thermopylae.  It was the scene of a great battle between the Greeks and the invading Persians in 480BC.  Although the Greeks, allied with the Spartans were defeated, their bravery is still the symbol of heroism in Greece today.  I was told that it was told in the film “Sparta”, but, as I haven’t seen the movie, I will have to trust this information.

There is an impressive monument to the Spartan King Leonides near the battlefield, and this is where we had our first big group shot:

When we eventually rounded the coastal corner and saw Volos for the first time, there was a loud cheer on the bus, and the welcome everyone got when we met the host families was equally impressive.  Everyone was so welcoming, enthusiastic and caring towards their guests; it was very gladdening to see.  Because our pupils are that bit younger than the rest of the pupils, their hosts were delighted to be “big sisters” to them. 

We teachers went to our hotel, which has spectacular views over the marina, and after a late meal, we have all retired to our rooms, ready for the busy day ahead tomorrow.

Miss Hunter

 Αντίο!