This is a short video with the highights from our first project meeting which took place in the Czech Republic from 17 to 21 December, 2018. The video was created by the Turkish team after collecting materials from all the participants in the meeting.

As you saw in the video, the guest teachers stayed at LONY hotel, situated in a very beautiful suburb, rich in Czech flora, which made it ideal for our work on Agriculture!

On the first day, Monday 18/12/2018, we were received at our hosts' school, the Gymnazium Celakowice where we made our presentations on Agriculture and Traditional Remedies (see sections above)

To make this long activity more lively, each team presenting their slides offered a couple of gifts and treats to the others; the Greek team offered oranges, mountain tea and mastiha gum;

The Turkish team offered us tea bags and a delicious sweet alleged to have sacred therapeutic powers.

The Spanish team offered us seed bombs with coriander to plant at home as well as tea bags with rosemary and orange peel and seed bags with cherry stones and lavender to use for the natural relief from muscular pain. 

We were all impressed by the hand painted phyto album created by the Italian team.

In the evening, we were taken to a traditional Czech Castle where we were guided to the history of the postal services in Bohemia and saw many interesting traditional costumes, furniture, decorations and artwork. There were also many Christmas trees in the different rooms of the castle, each from a different historical period with its decoration reflecting the different styles and tastes in Europe. This is where we all had dinner with our students, too.

The next project day, Tuesday opened with a workshop on Acral Physiotherapy given by a Czech therapist who developed this technique and runs a physiotherapy studio and spa in Celakowice.

We were demonstrated how the healing exercises in this system work and had a personal experience of its benefits. The physiotherapist also talked to us about her studies and her job and helped us realise the entrepreneurial potential of physiotheraphy.

Afterwards, we were taken to the CHOCOLATE FACTORY

located in a farm where our students observed the farm animals

and manufactured sustainable soap, candles and delicious chocolate also appreciating the crafts they got involved in as a career choice.

In the afternoon, we returned to school for our logo contest. After exhibiting all the proposals made by all the teams, we were instructed by Ms Maria Vena from the Italian school on the selection criterial and given a voting scheme according to which our project logo was selected. Here are some of the proposals:

And this is the winning one that became our project LOGO

In the evening, our studens visited the LONY horse riding school and farm, adjacent to the hotel of the teachers, where they were impressed by the beauty of the landscape.

Then, we had a party at LONY hotel where we played music from our countries and danced traditional and modern dances together.

On Wednesday, we visited the public oven in Ostra which was reconstructed with EU support in order to help sustain the tradition of baking bread together which is not only organic but also bringing the members of the local community closer and acting as a traditional forum site!

In the same place, we had a hands-on- experience of basket weaving and a pottery workshop. Again, we understood how arts and crafts helped people develop their creative, social and entrepreneurial skills. 

On Thursday, we took an all-day trip to Prague where we were guided to the main historical and religious sights and monuments enjoying the snowfall and the Christmas atmosphere! We were explained lots of things about the cultural significance of Prague and were able to grasp why it is one of the top tourist destinations in Europe.

On Friday, 21/12/2018, we were taken to Prerov, a museum of sustainable living in the previous centuries where we saw how people lived on what their farms gave them and appreciated the value of traditional farming, cooking, clothes and furniture making as well as family entertainment before electricity. The Greek team, who had recently visited a similar museum in their country, were impressed with how much the life of their ancestors had in common with that of the Czechs and other Europeans...

All the activities were really invaluable as they all contributed to the goals of this meeting, namely to become better aware of the common European cultural and environmental heritage of ours and to see different aspects of sustainability - particularly regarding agricultural and therapeutical practices - and appreciate the entrepreneurial value of traditional agriculture, crafts and remedies.