Our Comenius team going to this project meeting included four people: Akvile Kazlauskaite (form 10a),  Edvardas Banevicius (form 10a), English teacher Lilija Mikalauskaite – Dziumajeva and IT teacher Zydrunas Tautvydas. Due to the early flight we started our trip at 3 a.m. It was snowing heavily, but Akvile’s father took us safely to Vilnius airport. We changed the planes at Warsaw airport and at 3 p. m. we landed at Athens airport. Here we were pleasantly surprised by the warm sunny weather (+27C), green grass, bright blue sky, palms and yellow leaves on the trees… It took us one more hour to get to Kifisos bus station and then two more hours to reach Tripolis by coach. Our trip till we’ve reached our destination lasted 17 hours. Hello, Greece!

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school founded in 1948. It has 120 students aged from 12 to 18 and having talent for music. Each of the students has three additional music lessons a week. We were welcomed by the school headmaster, students and teachers.  Then we’ve discussed what we’ll be doing during all meeting days and later we had a walk in Tripolis getting acquainted with most famous places in the town. We also had a meeting with the mayor of Tripolis, and in the afternoon we all participated in the poetry workshop: Et in Arcadia Ego.

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We spent this day in Stemnitsa, a mountain village situated at the edge of the Mainalo mountains. It is one of the most beautiful villages in Arcadia having a picturesque location, historical churches and mansions. Here we had a workshop at the Silver – gold Smithery school. First we had a look at the exposition of traditional jewelry in one of the school halls and later students worked on making copper rings. We also visited the local folklore museum where we saw the traditional way of living, the way candles were made… And then we had one more workshop on how honey is made. We’ve tried caramel honey peculiar only for this region of Greece.

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In the morning we visited the imposing ruins of Mycenae, the city of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15^th to the 12^th century B.C. and played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture. According to the legend, Mycenae was the capital of Agamemnon, the Achaean king who sacked the city of Troy.

Later we moved to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus. Very impressive. The theatre has perfect acoustics. We listened to some songs performed by the students’ choir from Tripolis music school, they sounded fantastic.

The last place visited that day was Nafplio, one of the most beautiful and romantic towns in the downtown and had a look at Palamidi Castle, which proudly stands 216 m above the sea level.

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In the morning we moved to Dimitsana, another mountain village, located at the altitude of 1000 metres. On the way there, through the windows of the coach we enjoyed the beautiful sights of the mountains. Our destination in Dimitsana was the Open – Air Water Power Museum opened in 1997. Here we saw a flour mill, a tannery and a gun powder mill along with two restored houses. Then we had a walk in Dimitsana meeting with the mayor of this village and turning to Dimitsana Town Library which has a number of books from the 16^th century. And the last point we turned to that day was a small village of Arcadiani. Here students had a workshop on traditional cooking with honey: they learned to make pancakes with honey…

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In the morning we visited Kapsia Cave , one of the ten most impressive caves in Greece, situated beneath the mount Mainalon. The views in the cave were breathtaking: colourful stalagmites and fiery red, yellow ochre, aquamarine and snowy white configurations of stalactites… Later that day we visited the archeological site of the ancient theatre of Mantineia and beautiful Agia Fonteini church built in 1996. In the evening we had drum percussion workshop. Everyone could try playing different percussion instruments. Also host students performed traditional dances from Arcadia region.

Early in the morning we said good – bye to hospitable Greek students and teachers and headed for Athens. The journey lasted two hours and on the way we enjoyed the beautiful views of the mountains and the sea. The first place we visited in Athens was Acropolis of Athens located on a high rocky outcrop above the city. Here with our own eyes we could see the Parthenon, the  Erechtheion, the Propylaca and the small temple Athena Nike. Later we visited the Acropolis Museum, Lycabettus hill and had a free afternoon in Plaka…

Before going to the airport we had some free time to explore Plaka once again, to see the view of the Acropolis standing high above the city, and enjoy still very warm sunny weather… In the evening Lithuania welcomed us with rain and cold. It seemed unbelievable that in the morning of that day we were wearing T – shirts while walking in Athens and enjoyed the temperatures of +25C… Good – bye, Greece!

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