C4 Students short exchange in Katerini, Greece

When we arrived at the city of Katerini , there was a warm welcome by the Greek families and our students were accomodated in their families.

On Monday 9th The headmaster of the 3rd Junior High School of Katerini, Mr. Konstantinou welcomed the Basque delegation and thanked them for their help and contribution to the project.

 There was an exchanged of presents and students from both schools danced the two dances learnt in the project jauzi zazpi and hasapiko. There was a break when students and teachers tasted the desserts cooked by the families.

We watched videos presenting first our school, then our town, Katerini, our mountain Olympus, the region of Pieria, the nearby city of Thessaloniki and finally the sights and attractions of Central Macedonia.

Then all students  played a lot of amusing ice breaking games, so that we could meet and feel comfortable with each other, as it was only the very first day of the exchange.

The day ended with a big poster where students drew and expressed their feelings about the project. Then students stayed with their families.

In the afterrnoon a small delegation of teachers and students appeared on a TV show in Dion TV .

On Tuesday a visit to a local radio took place to talk about the project.

After this visit we went to the school where we took a lesson on Homer’s Iliad by Mr. Kyrailidis and Ms. Goula. We were shown a very comprehensive video about facts and trivia concerning the Iliad (Homer’s second most widely known poem) and then we concentrated on a very specific excerpt from it.Two students read the excerpt in both Greek and Spanish.

In the afternoon, we all went for a walk in the seaside village of Paralia.

On Wednesday morning we visited Aigai, the first city of Macedon and the first capital of the Macedon Kingdom. In the archaeological site of Aigai we entered the royal burial cluster.

After Vegrina and the archaeological site of Aigai we moved on to Thessaloniki where we visited its more important historical buildings.

On Thursday we started  with a nice tour around the archaeological site of Dion, the holy city of the Macedonians. The Greek students were our guides in this tour.

After Dion we headed to Litohoro, a small town at the foot of Mt. Olympus. So we hiked on a local path by Enipeas Gorge. We saw the beginning of the European long distance path E4, which crosses Olympus Mountain, and we admired the view of the summits of Olympus and the flora of the area.

We also  had lunch altogether at a beautiful seaside taverna in the area of Gritsa. There we had the chance to cook ourselves, too. The Basque girls prepared a tortilla (a Spanish omelette) . We  also enjoyed the fish dishes prepared by the chef and his helpers (Greek and Basque students) and we had fun by the sea.

On Friday  morning we visited the Platamon Castle, a castle of the middle Byzantine period located in strategic position in the southeast of Mount Olympus. We were guided  by Greek students around the castle and enjoyed the view from up there.

Afterwards we headed towards the traditional village of Old Panteleimon. There we had plenty of time to admire the local architecture .

In the afterrnoon all students spent a great time with their families as in the following day in the morning we left.

 

Elexalde students wrote their diaries of the mobility. All of them can be read on this webpage.

 

If you want to read more information about it, you can find it on this webpage