Month: Dec 2018
Travel journal
SUNDAY 4TH NOVEMBER
On Monday it will take place in Seville (Spain) the forth Project Meeting. During the weekend teachers and pupils are arriving to Seville. Families pick up children at the airport, What an emotional moment!
Partners who arrived early take advantage of this day to walk around the town Los Palacios y Villafranca.
MONDAY, 5th NOVEMBER
After a nice breakfast, all the group meet at the hotel´s hall and go walking to Andrés Bernáldez School. It´s a school situated in a rural area, there are almost 500 students between 3 and 12 years old, and 27 teachers.
When we arrived there, there where some children wearing their traditional costumes and giving us a flower and then we went into the school where all the children were in the corridors greeting us with flags from the different countries.
We went up to the terrace and all the children were in the playground. They sang and danced a song for us. After that, we went to the meeting room and we enjoyed a show of traditional flamenco dances.
After that we enjoyed a delicious breakfast with the hosting families, it´s a very interesting experience to share information and feelings about children and our different cultures.
When finish breakfast, we went again to the meeting room and enjoyed another flamenco show offered by a different dance school. This time the flamenco teacher danced for us and offered a short flamenco master class for us.
At lunchtime, we went walking to the hotel to have lunch in the hotel restaurant, all the Erasmus group and the hosting teachers enjoyed a nice meal.
After lunch we went back to the school and it takes place our first meeting to discuss some important questions about the Project. As the coordinator decided to withdraw the Project we have been obligued to finish it, during this first meeting we tried to find a solution to this issue, we decided to write a letter to the new headmaster of the coordinator school and to the NA, to try to avoid their rejection. And we also discussed about the activities that we have to present here and the activities that we did. During the meeting the Spanish coordinator gave each partner a presents bag, including the information about places that we were going to visit with maps and the Vocabulary Book. Also a methacrylate present for the school to remember this meeting.
When we fisnished the meeting, we went for dinner to a fantastic restaurant in Los Palacios y Villafranca. We enjoyed having traditional dishes from the area and after this the group went back to the hotel for resting of this intense first day.
TUESDAY, 6th NOVEMBER
According to the program, on Tuesday we visited Seville. After breakfast at the hotel, we met at 8 o´clock to take a bus which will drive us to Seville. We picked up children from school, Erasmus children and hosting children went with us to this visit.
Our first stop was Capitania building in Plaza España Plaza de España is an outstanding example of regionalist revival architecture of the 20th century. It was the most emblematic monument of the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929. It has been used as a filming location in the Star Wars movie series.there a guide was waiting for us. There we visit the building of Captaincy General of Seville is integrated into the rear of the Plaza of Spain, an elegant historicist style building designed by Aníbal González in 1914 and opened fourteen years later, in 1928, overlooking the Great American Exhibition. With its main front of the Plaza of the Army, from the outside is accessed through a magnificent open porch to the square through a portico of three arches, a deep porch inside which creates a forest of cruciform pillars brick, which is covered by a series of pointed ribbed vaults made with high quality and purity of line.
We took pictures here and after that we went for a walk through the beautiful streets of Seville, we pass the University building, and arrived to Santa Cruz’s quarter walking through its narrow streets, charming squares and touristic atmosphere that characterize this quarter right next to the Cathedral what was our next stop. Seville Cathedral is the biggest gothic Cathedral and the third largest Christian Cathedral in the world. It was built in the 15th century on an ancient Muslim mosque. The Main Chapel is a must-do! There we visited the Giralda tower, it is the symbol of the city. Once the ancient minaret of the Arabic mosque, it holds today the bell tower for the Cathedral. After this visit we went for lunch to a charming restauratn testing new Andalusian flavours.
After lunch we went direct to the Alcázar, it is an Arabic fortress and Moorish Palace that present some astonishing gardens. It is located closed to the Cathedral.We explored this by ourselves and after this visit, we enjoyed a couple of hours having a coffee, shopping or visiting more nice places of this beautiful and wonderful town.
At night we were ready to enjoy a real flamenco experience at Casa de la Guitarra, it was a small intimate place, there we could enjoy of an authentic show during an hour. A mixture of talented guitar and vocal solos with a fabulous dancer
represent an amazing performance of passion. Unbelievable experience!
And to finish this day, we enjoyed a nice dinner next to the Cathedral and went back to Los Palacios for resting, we needed it after this intense but wonderful day!
WEDNESDAY, 7th NOVEMBER
This morning after breakfast, a bus was waiting fot us to go to Córdoba.
Córdoba is still home to many notable pieces of Moorish architecture such as the Mezquita, which was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, and it´s currently in use as a Cathedral. The UNESCO status has since been expanded to encompass the whole historic centre of Córdoba. Much of this architecture, such as the Alcázar and the Roman bridge has been reworked or reconstructed by the city’s successive inhabitants.
A partner from the school was our guide in Córdoba, first we walked through the Jewish Qarter, near the Cathedral, which consists of many irregular streets, such as Calleja de las Flores and Calleja del Pañuelo, and which is home to the Synagogue and the Sephardic House. It was a rainy day, but in spite of this we could enjoy the beauty and attractiveness of this town.
We arrived to the Mezquita, or Great Mosque, of Córdoba, in the Umayyad style of architecture with variations inspired by indigenous Roman and Christian Visigothic structures. Later caliphs extended the mosque with more domed bays, arches, intricate mosaics and a minaret, making it one of the four wonders of the medieval Islamic world. After the Christian reconquest of Andalucía, a cathedral was built in the heart of the mosque, however much of the original structure remains. It can be found in the Historic Centre of Córdoba, a recognized World Heritage Site.
After this we crossed the Roman Bridge , over the Guadalquivir River, links the area of Campo de la Verdad with Barrio de la Catedral. It was the only bridge of the city for twenty centuries, until the construction of the San Rafael Bridge in the mid-20th century. Built in the early 1st century BC, during the period of Roman rule in Córdoba, probably replacing a more primitive wooden one, it has a length of about 250 m and has 16 arches.
And when it was time for lunch we went to a restaurant and enjoyed the tasting of traditional dishes from the town such as salmorejo, flamenquín cordobés, rabo de toro, berenjenas a la miel o pastelón cordobés.
Then we went back to Los Palacios, and we stayed in a meeting room of the hotel where took place another Project meeting to discuss the latest facts. We continued talking about how we could continue with this Project, and after finished the letter for the coordinator school´s headmaster and the NA, we sent it.
Another day is finished, and it´s time for resting!
THURSDAY 8th NOVEMBER
On Thursday after breakfast, the bus was waiting for us and after pick up the children at the school, we started our trip to Jerez de la Frontera, there we visited Tio Pepe wine cellar, there a guide explained us the history of the wine cellar and the proccess of wine elaboration. We could enjoy the tasting of two different wines and we visited the different bodegas, patios and gardens.
After this visit we took the bus to go to Real Escuela De Arte Ecuestre where we could enjoy the unique show “How the Andalusian Horses Dance”, it´s an equestrian ballet accompanied by quintessential Spanish music and 18th century styled costumes, all put together and choreographed using movements based upon Classical Dressage, Doma Vaquera (country-style riding) and traditional equestrian chores. Each show consists of between six and eight different choreographies, with the same degree of difficulty and entertainment value and scheduled by the school.
When the show was finished and after walk under the rain, the bus drove us to Cádiz, there we walked through the Promenade, we had luch in a fantastic restaurant next to the beach. There we enjoyed typical dishes from Cádiz as tortillitas de camarones, delicious! After lunch, children and also adults stayed on the beach playing, walking or taking pictures and enjoying of the beautiful landscape of Cádiz.
Then we went to the town centre. Cadiz has been a seafaring, trading town for more than 3,000 years, in fact it is the oldest city on record in western Europe. It is difficult not to fall in love with the city, which combines a rich cultural heritage with an upbeat, friendly ambience. We walk through La Caleta beach, Gran Teatro Falla, San Antonio Square, Palillero Square, Columela Street, Plaza de las Flores, the Cathedral and the town council.
After discovering this charming Andalusian town we went back to Los Palacios, ready to rest and be ready for our last day.
FRIDAY 9th NOVEMBER
After breakfast we walked to the School, there the coordinator guide us through the school, presenting the classes, teachers and explaining their way of working. We visited different classes and children sang for us different songs.
Then the partners from Cyprus, Croatia and Portugal presented the Activities in different classes of 6th Grade and the rest of partners enjoyed their presentations. Teachers and pupils had prepared an activity related to their cultures and the Spanish students and teachers received them with enthusiasm and enjoyed this experience sharing different aspects of cultures and traditions.
When the activities finished, we enjoyed a traditional breakfast with the hosting families, talking with them about the week and how the children felt, and how they have been enjoying this experience.
After breakfast, we had our last meeting, the Spanish coordinator presented the vocabulary book. And we discuss about the final of our Project.
The farewell dinner took place in the hotel restaurant. There we had the possibility to taste more traditional food and listen to live modern flamenco music. We enjoyed talking and dancing, At the end of the dinner all participants received their certificates of attendance and we took many pictures of all of us together. The atmosphere was very good and it felt good to finish the week this way. Everyone was very happy and satisfied with the week in Spain, but worried and unhappy about the fact that this could be the last meeting of this wonderful group.
Promoting the social inclusion of our disadvantage students, through the knowledge of the rich european cultural heritages/history 