Let's visit my home town

We profited from this venture a lot. We visited different towns, museums and cultural centres, tried regional dishes, admired local music and dance. We made friends and we mastered our communicative and ICT skills. Thank you once more!

During every visit the participants of the project had the chance to meet local authorities representatives.<br>We informed the local government about our plans and tasks to be done in Vila Nova de Gaia, Lucca, Bydgoszcz and Heraklion.Local authorities were very interested in our activity, and they appreciated our promoting role as a group of young people who spread the beauty and charm of the places where they grow and live.

During this visit from 9.05 till 23.05.2022 we had an opportunity to have a closer look at the history, traditions and contemporary life of the town Archanes and Heraklion. While attending the educational classes the students discovered Archanes - the place of long history and ancient European culture. We got to know the history of Archanes throughout centuries - from prehistoric period - Minoan civilisation across the Venetian period until present times.<br>Treasure Hunt in Archanes enabled the group not only to know the city itself, but also to acquitant the community of this place.Students also developed their skills of reading maps and orienteering in the open air.The beginnings of the region was presented to the participants while visiting The Archeological Museum in Heraklion, where you can find, the biggest in the island, collection of ancient artefacts.The trip to The Palace Museum in Knossos let students broaden their knowledge connected with the Minoan culture and know the cultural heritage of the region.This particular museum is the biggest and the most spectacular centre of Minoan civilisation.During the workshops we could admire and try to learn some traditional dance and listen to the music characteristic for this part of Greece.There was also art workshop called "Let's paint a Minoan pot" which presented the most typical Minoan decorative motifs on ceramic dishes.

From the 21st of March 2022 the participants took part in project tasks in Bydgoszcz entitled "Discover Bydgoszcz Old and Modern". The main objective of this meeting was to get the knowledge about the place, its history, monuments and favourite past time activities of its inhabitants. The students broadened their skills how to spread cultural aspects of a place and create promoting materials. The youth participated in the Street Game. They were moving along the route looking for messages hidden for them earlier by the group from Poland and they were supposed to fulfill certain tasks.<br>This was an attractive way to know the city. Moreover, young people attended workshops in the Museum of Soap and Dirt, where they had an opportunity to hear about 5000 history of human hygiene, learning in what way people cared about their cleanliness in different historic periods.Later on the group could try some traditional dishes during their stay in the place called "Pierogarnia" - dumplings restaurant.<br>Here, guided by the masterchef, students prepared dumplings by themselves and commented on their taste.Modern Bydgoszcz was reflected through the students' sports activities. They were talking to senior basketball team "Astoria", had tried the basketball training and bowling game.<br>The students spent time in an active way and they visited sports centres in the city.

The next meeting of participants of our project during 21-25 of February was called "Lucca - the Heart of Tuscany".<br>Among numerous goals of the meeting there was gathering information about European countries, so as to find our common roots and valuable differences, that build up our European heritage.The beginning of our stay in Lucca started with the visit in the Town Hall, then we walked through the streets of the town, that is regarded as the cradle of European culture.Together with the professional guide we visited Medieval monuments; such as the church Chiesa San Michele in Foro, Torre Guinigi tower, the squares Piazza San Michele and Piazza del Amfiteatro, magnificent city walls around the city.We got to know the history, culture and rt of this beautiful place.The final accent of the sightseeing tour was the orienteering run called "Searching the Treasures of Art".It aimed at finding a given monument or piece of architecture and art which, in turn had to be placed in a photograph taken by students.The participants created a blog, a leaflet and a press note and they also founded Tourist Agency Erasmus +.the effect of their work were recorded materials where students played the role of a guide advertising some favourite places in their hometowns.There were also leaflets prepared with the translation for the native languages of the participants.During the stay in Italy students visited Ponte della Maddalena, a bridge over the river Serchio, the old oak tree La Quercia delle Streghe, Pinocchio Park and beautiful terrasse garden in Collodi.While being in the sea town Viareggio, the students visited The Museum of Carnival and learned the technique of making masks.After they had made one of their own, the young people had fun on the beach, laughing and dancing. It was a wonderful time in Tuscany.